MoU to foster cooperation between Korean, Turkish contractors

State Minister Zafer Çağlayan and South Korean Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Chung Jong-Hwan signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday to create a cooperative mechanism for contracts and technical consultations in third countries. Çağlayan, speaking at a meeting with Chung, stated that the agreement would allow the two countries’ contractors to cooperate on international projects -- strengthening both nations’ construction sectors.

Noting that the Turkish construction sector has secured more than $155 billion worth of contracts in 70 nations, Çağlayan stated that the sector has taken on projects worth more than $20 billion over the last few years. He added that although 2009 was a difficult year for the construction sector, Turkish contractors engaged in $19 billion worth of projects abroad. Discussing how Turkish contractors measure up to other global players, Çağlayan pointed to Engineering News-Record’s list of the 225 top international construction firms. He said 31 Turkish firms were on the list, second only to China, while South Korea had 13 firms on the list, making its construction sector the sixth largest.

He stated that the new agreement would bring together firms from Turkey and South Korea for projects in East Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

Regarding the trade volume between the two nations, Çağlayan said that of the $3.4 billion in trade between the two nations each year, 92 percent were imports into Turkey and the rest were exports to Korea. He added that the bilateral trade volume needs to increase in a balanced manner. Recalling that Turkey and South Korea collectively engage in $1 trillion of global trade per year while only $3.4 billion is between the two nations, Çağlayan set a goal of raising the bilateral trade volume to $10 billion annually in the coming years while adding that talks on a free trade agreement between the two nations in April would significantly help increase their trade volume.

Chung, also speaking at the event, stated that the synergies created by this new agreement would mean that the two countries’ contractors would act jointly as a global giant with far-reaching effects. He added that the South Korean government was working to increase trade between the two nations in a balanced way. Çağlayan, taking the stage after Chung’s talk, stated that 119,500 Korean tourists came to Turkey in 2008, a figure which fell to 89,000 in 2009. He requested that the South Korean government remove travel warnings regarding Turkey to increase the number of tourists coming in.