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TUSKON president: We bring buyers to Turkey, not sellers
The events with African nations have constituted a major part of these efforts as TUSKON held four bridges with them and hosted 3,000 businessmen from 51 African countries. TUSKON President Rızanur Meral underlines that these businessmen have generally been strong buyers, not “giant sellers” like most European companies doing business in Turkey.
He was speaking with a group of Turkish reporters in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum during TUSKON's launch of a trade campaign there with 105 Turkish businessmen from 94 companies.
In 2005 the annual trade volume between Africa and Turkey was $6 billion, $3.5 billion of which was imports, according to Meral. He claimed that the volume of trade had started to increase by 2006 owing to TUSKON's successive trade bridges with this continent and has reached an annual figure of $18 billion since then. The share of Turkey's exports in this figure has also been boosted to $9 billion, he said.
“There is no Turkish civil society organization operating in Africa other than us,” he said adding that TUSKON has been the only actor of the government's African Strategy.
Meral said TUSKON has found a very lucrative market for its members especially in the sub-Saharan region, of which Sudan is an important part. “We aimed to bring this country onto the agenda of Turkish businessmen since it poses a serious opportunity with a vast potential in oil, natural gas and agriculture,” Meral said and argued that the historic and religious ties between Turkey and Sudan will also pave the way for striking business deals in this country.
There are currently 3,000 Turkish businessmen in Sudan. Turks have a considerable share in the country's concrete, iron and steel production. Meral said Sudan was in need of investment, especially in greenhouse cultivation, textiles, contracting, frosted glass production, ready-wear, food and packaging. Hatemoğlu, a famous Turkish ready-wear company, is opening a store in Sudan, he said. Turkey's annual exports to Sudan amounted to $233 million as of the end of 2008, whereas its imports totaled $30 million.
In Meral's opinion, the biggest deficiency in commercial relations between Sudan and Turkey is the lack of Turkish banks to operate as intermediary institutions in financial deals. The money transfers in big business deals are being conducted through international banks that have branches in Sudan, and no Turkish bank is interested in opening an operation in this country. Meral said Sudan will most probably be sorting out its liquidity problem shortly and that it is very urgent for Turkish banks to have a stronghold in this country. “Our visit is very timely in that sense,” he said and called on Turkish banks to act swiftly.
Sudan is the largest country in Africa with an area of 2.5 million square kilometers. It is populated by 41 million people. China is currently the most prominent foreign investor in Sudan as it purchases $8 billion worth of oil per year while earning back this money by constructing Sudan's bridges and mosques. The US bombed and shelled Sudan during former President George W. Bush's tenure for aiding and abetting Osama bin Laden and has been imposing an embargo ever since. The sanctions have battered the country's economy dramatically, but signs of improvement in US-Sudan relations are being displayed as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to reveal a strategy to pursue milder relations with this African nation. Clinton was expected to announce the new plan today, after Today's Zaman went to press. Analysts are suggesting that this shift in US policy is due to its growing concerns that Sudan is getting closer to China, to the detriment of US interests.
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