WASHINGTON
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "Model partnership is not easy and there are burdens that it gives to us. And when you look at the balances, the balances are a bit different."
Speaking at the round table meeting organized by US Chamber of Commerce with participation of US Vice President Joe Biden, Erdogan said during President Obama's visit to Turkey, they had given a title to their relationship, that was model partnership.
He added "Model partnership is not easy, so it is, there are burdens that it gives to us. And when you look at the balances, the balances are a bit different. As of 2012 US investments in Turkey is about $400 million for the last few years, and it must be increased. American investors in Turkey should benefit from the friendly atmosphere and the attraction that Turkish economy provides. Turkey is safe place."
Erdogan defined the model partnership as "Model partnership is showing the depth and the multifaceted nature of our relations, development of our relations in every level and reinforcement of our relations. In every area, we are doing our best."
"The economic mechanism between the two countries are working successfully"
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said they were glad to say that the economic mechanism between the two countries was working successfully, and he stated:
"Of course, we are happy to see the growing interest of U.S. companies towards Turkey. In the last decade, we had international investments in Turkey of $123 billion. United States has 8.5 percent of this investment; is ranking the third. We would like to see America to be the first with a big difference."
Erdogan also emphasized the decision Engine and Baxter, biotechnology companies, to invest in Turkey and said, "Engine has agreed to take over majority of the shares of Mustafa Nezat, biocompany in Turkey, and this is one of the first Turkish producer who was certified by the FDA."
"Turkish economy is stable"
Turkish economy was stable said Erdogan and added, "Turkish economy is moving on in its direction as the government can get debts at a very low interest rate, 4.8 percent and the Central Bank decreased the indicative interest and the interest rates became 4.5 percent."
Reminding that Turkey had a project named Galataport, a tender which was previously cancelled, Erdogan said "Now it is attracting a lot of interest, today this tender was completed $702 million with better terms. And this was a record figure. The third airport in Istanbul is going to host 100 million passengers per year and it has been given for 22 billion euros."
Erdogan also announced the future investment plans and said:
"And now there is another step that we are taking. We are going to build channel called Canal Istanbul which is going to connect Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. And the tender will be opened soon. And the bid will be very competitive. So this airport tender and Canal Istanbul tender and the urbanization that is going to develop around this area is going to further reinforce Istanbul's position in the world. This is not going to attract more population in this area. It is going to pull the population centered in Istanbul to its own area, and it is going to introduce a modern urbanization."
"The target of Turkey is to produce its own brand in automotive sector"
Erdogan touched upon the investment of Ford and said that the Ford company had laid the foundations of its third plant in Turkey.
Prime Minister Erdogan said the target of Turkey was going to produce its own brand in automotive sector and added:
"So we were the 26th largest economy. Now we are 17th. And in due course, we are going to become among the 10 largest economies. Turkey's strong in construction and in automotive. Now the U.S. and Turkey, with the free trade agreement and the high level consultative committee and with the joint work, I believe that they are going to design the future, give more dynamism to the future, and we are going to set even higher targets."
