Speaking at an event on Tuesday hosted by the American Business Forum in Turkey (ABFT) in İstanbul, Hormats asserted: “We see enormous opportunities. Turkey is a G-20 partner of the US, It's a NATO partner of the US. And we would like to develop over a period of time in this new administration a very close set of economic relations particularly, not just with the government, which is obvious, but also with the Turkish business community.” He added that he thought it was “a tribute to Turkey, to the leadership that has been shown by this country, to the economic success demonstrated by this country, that Turkey is a member of the G-20.”
ABFT Chairwoman Rahşan Cebe welcomed attendees and introduced US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey, the ABFT's honorary chairman, who preceded Hormats with a few brief comments. Undersecretary Hormats particularly stressed the attractiveness of Turkey to America's pharmaceutical industry as well as his hope that recent changes in regulations not deter these corporations from increasing their investments and operations here. “Our hope is that the pharmaceutical industry of the United States that has chosen to invest here will be able to work out their differences with the government of Turkey so that … downward pressure on prices can be alleviated to the point where they are encouraged to continue to make new investments because we think that if these issues can be resolved, it can provide a very good opportunity for more pharmaceutical companies to come into Turkey and produce the kind of life-saving drugs they produce and also to create a lot of jobs.” More than 100 guests representing all American industry sectors, Turkish NGOs, investment groups and Turkish and American government representatives attended. The gathering was preceded by an informal press gathering.
