{"id":32398,"date":"2011-04-19T09:09:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T06:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=32398"},"modified":"2011-04-19T09:09:11","modified_gmt":"2011-04-19T06:09:11","slug":"iranian-firms-break-into-world-markets-via-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2011\/04\/19\/iranian-firms-break-into-world-markets-via-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian firms break into world markets via Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Monday, April 18, 2011<\/div>\n
G\u00d6KHAN KURTARAN<\/div>\n
ISTANBUL – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Companies in Iran are finding their way to the world economy through Turkey, developing strong trade ties in recent years, according to a Turkish business representative.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkey is replacing Dubai for Iranian firms,\u201d Bilgin Ayg\u00fcn, the vice chairman of Turkish-Iranian Business Council at Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, or DE\u0130K, told the H\u00fcrriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Monday. \u201cThe best of Iranian firms penetrate world markets through Turkey,\u201d he said, noting that cultural, historical and religious links go back hundreds of years as well as Iranian firms\u2019 interest in Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Iranian firms with warehouses in Dubai are now considering Turkey due to the geographical advantages it offers,\u201d he said, adding that direct flights offered by Turkish Airlines to four Iranian cities have paved the way for business growth between the two countries.<\/p>\n

According to figures from the Turkish Prime Ministry\u2019s Undersecretariat of Treasury, the number of Iranian firms in Turkey reached to 1,470 by the end of last year. The figure for the years between 1954 and 2002 was only 319.<\/p>\n

Starting from 2002, the year that Turkey\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came into power, every year nearly a hundred new Iranian firms started to operate on Turkish soil. Iranian firms\u2019 interest in Turkey even continued during the global recession and 139 new firms were registered in Turkey in 2008.<\/p>\n

According to figures, 167 Iranian firms started to operate in the country in 2009 before a record-breaking sum of 284 last year.<\/p>\n

The total capital of top 74 Iranian companies out of 167 that were registered in Turkey in 2009 was between $50,000 and $200,000. The capital of only seven Iranian companies that registered in the country was above $500,000. In 2010, the capital of 284 new Iranian companies in the country summed up $9.83 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilateral trade volume has increased 50 percent as of the end of last year,\u201d Ayg\u00fcn said.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cconsiderably\u201d easier for Turkish businessmen to work with Iranian firms as almost one in every three speaks Azeri, a dialect similar to Turkish, said the vice chairman. \u201cTurkey could penetrate eastern markets through Iran while Iran penetrates western markets through Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Energy trade<\/p>\n

Turkish dependency on energy imports has increased the strategic importance of Iran for the country, Ayg\u00fcn said. \u201cTurkey and Iran could join forces and invest in third countries, especially in Tajikistan and Afghanistan that are strongly under the influence of Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said an Iranian business delegation would visit Istanbul in September to meet with Turkish businessmen to negotiate the possibility of investment in third countries. \u201cA Turkish business delegation from DEIK would visit Tehran for the same purpose in April 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s oil imports reached 7.8 million tons in 2008 and slumped down to 3.2 million tons in 2009. According to Energy Market Regulatory Body, or EPDK, Turkey\u2019s total import of oil from Iran reached 5.3 billion tons by the end of last year. Natural gas import of Turkey reached 5.2 million cubic meters by the end of last year from 4.1 million cubic meters in 2008 and 5.2 million in 2009.<\/p>\n

More border gates <\/strong><\/p>\n

Turkey and Iran opened a third border crossing at Kap\u0131k\u00f6y in eastern province of Van province last Saturday. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu said, \u201cOur prime minister set a target of $30 billion in annual trade with Iran. That is why we are opening this border crossing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis border is a symbol of peace and friendship and the resurrection of the Silk Road, which for centuries played an important role in making the economy of the region flourish,\u201d said Foreign Minister Ali Akbar talking at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

According to Turkish Prime Minister the economic relations between two countries would be boosted with a fourth border to be opened in Dilucu in northeast of Turkey and a fifth crossing border in Dillucu in northeastern Turkey without giving a date for opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s foreign trade volume is approximately $150 billion,\u201d Mehmet Koca, chief executive officer of G\u00fcbreta\u015f, told the Daily News.<\/p>\n

The Turkish fertilizer acquired Iran\u2019s Razi Petrochemical in 2008 for $656 million euros. Noting that the business opportunities between the two countries had tremendous growth potential, Koca said, Turkish and Iranian trade volume floats around $10 billion as the total foreign trade volume of Iran has reached approximately $150 billion by last year.<\/p>\n

Koca said Turkey has nearly a $3 billion share in Iran\u2019s total imports of $60 billion last year. According to Koca, \u201cThe figures show that Iran meets nearly 95 percent of its import demand from countries other than Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years, with the attempts of the Turkish government, Turkey has improved trade relations with Iran,\u201d said Koca, noting that economic relations gained new momentum thanks to increasing political and economic influence of Turkey in its hinterland. Koca said the current trade volumes are still way below the potential, in order to accelerate the economic relations, \u201cIran\u2019s approach to the world carries significant importance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new border crossings taking place between two countries, Iranian firms opening new firms in Turkey in order to penetrate worldwide economies through Turkey demonstrate that the economic relations between Iran and Turkey have developed to a great extent,\u201d said Koca.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s total trade volume with Iran reached $10.6 billion by the end of last year, according to Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat. Turkey\u2019s total export volume to Iran reached nearly $3 billion in last year rose from nearly $2 billion of 2009. Turkey\u2019s import volumes also skyrocketed to $7.64 billion in 2010 compared with $3.4 billion in previous year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, April 18, 2011 G\u00d6KHAN KURTARAN ISTANBUL – H\u00fcrriyet Daily News Companies in Iran are finding their way to the world economy through Turkey, developing strong trade ties in recent years, according to a Turkish business representative. \u201cTurkey is replacing Dubai for Iranian firms,\u201d Bilgin Ayg\u00fcn, the vice chairman of Turkish-Iranian Business Council at Foreign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[846,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-iran_"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}