Koru, who was here on Sunday to meet with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to finalize the visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul in February, told Arab News that the opening of the proposed joint venture Makkah-Istanbul railway in the near future would further improve trade relations between the two countries. “Trade can be further expanded by mutual investments, and Turkey welcomes Saudi companies to invest in Turkey,” he said, adding that banking, real estate, telecom and tourism are among the sectors in which Saudi investors can show increased interest.
According to him, the two-way trade exceeds $ 4 billion, with the balance remaining in favor of the Kingdom. “Our annual exports of $ 1.6 billion include mostly automotive spare parts, steel, cement, fruit and vegetables, while we import oil from the Kingdom,” he said.
The trade volume between the two countries was around $ 4.6 billion in the first nine months of 2008, with a 69 percent rise over the same period of 2007, according to official figures. Turkey has formulated a five-year objective to increase its trade volume with Saudi Arabia to $ 15 billion.
“Several Turkish companies are involved in the Kingdom’s construction sector, but are faced with a labor problem that is caused by difficulty in getting visas,” Koru said.
Early this year, the two countries signed an agreement to boost mutual tourism and culture.
The country receives 22 million annually, a significant number of them from Germany, Russia and the UK. “Visitors from the Kingdom are also increasing,” he said.
