Turkish business body opens 2 offices in Latin America

By Burhan Sansarlioglu

ISTANBUL

Turkey's Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD) has expanded its global network with two new representative offices in Latin America, which it considers a strategic region.

As part of MUSIAD’s trade diplomacy vision of having branches in 100 countries by the end of 2018, its representative offices in 86 countries now number 216 with the opening of new branches in Mexico and Colombia, the business body said in a statement.

Ibrahim Uyar, head of MUSIAD's foreign organization and development commission, said the region gained importance after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visits.

Stating that the business body has declared 2019 the year of Latin America and the Asia-Pacific, Uyar added that earlier, they also opened another branch in Venezuela.

“While the U.S., China and Germany are Mexico’s top trade partners, Turkey exported $441 million worth of goods to Mexico last year and imported $772 million worth from the country,” Uyar said, adding trade volume between the two countries reached $957 million in the January-September period of this year.

Uyar said the trade volume between Turkey and Colombia was around $1.5 billion.

He also emphasized that adaptation to increasingly competitive conditions of global trade and making the necessary moves in time by considering the risks correctly are very important in order for trade to gain momentum.

“With the trade diplomacy project, we are working to maintain the commercial traffic in a healthy way and to show the commercial potential of our country at the maximum level,” Uyar said.

Mehmet Cankaya, MUSIAD’s representative in Colombia, said the region offered many important opportunities for Turkish businesspeople.

Reporting by Burhan Sansarlioglu:Writing by Sena Guler