Doha “Turkey opens the door wide to attract Qatari investors.” With these words, Turkish Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Simsek opened the Turkish Business and Investment Opportunities Conference, which was held in the capital, Doha, yesterday, Wednesday.
The Turkish minister described the political and economic relations between the two countries as “wonderful” and said that this is reflected in the trade relations that are witnessing great development, adding that all conditions are favorable to strengthening these relations, “and all we have to do is pave the way for businessmen” to carry out more trade relations.
Simsek told Al Jazeera Net that the State of Qatar has significant and effective contributions to investment in many sectors in Turkey, noting in this context that the Qatar Investment Authority has a large balance of investments in the Turkish economy, especially the technological sector.
Collaboration channels
The Turkish Minister of Finance expected that the volume of direct Qatari investment in his country during the next five years will increase significantly, especially with strong communication with Qatari capital, in addition to the presence of open and continuous channels of cooperation with private sector companies and businessmen to benefit from the promising investment opportunities in the Turkish market in Various sectors.
Simsek addressed the Qatari businessmen, saying, “Turkey is implementing a new economic program and has begun to reap its fruits,” pointing out that a year ago his country faced a number of economic challenges, so it launched a program to reduce inflation and the budget deficit.
Şimşek: Investment facilities will be offered for the first time in Türkiye for the purpose of promoting Qatari projects and increasing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.
He added: We offer huge investment opportunities for Qatari investors and capital, and during the coming period, investment facilities will be offered for the first time in the country with the aim of promoting Qatari projects in Turkey and increasing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.
Simsek expected that Turkish inflation would decrease by 2026 to less than 10%, pointing out that the consequences of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake in 2023 led to a clear financial deficit, but this deficit began to decline thanks to the efficiency of the new economic program.
He pointed out that the central bank’s reserves increased by 95% while the fluctuation of the lira’s exchange rate decreased, expecting the fiscal deficit to decrease over the next few years.
The Turkish Minister explained that access to global capital markets has improved very significantly in the country recently, and that international rating agencies have raised Türkiye’s rating to better levels.
The conference – which was attended by a number of Qatari and Turkish businessmen – focused on informing the Qatari side of the most important Turkish legislation and laws of interest to Qatari investors. It also discussed the most prominent ways to increase opportunities for economic and commercial cooperation and improve investment opportunities between the two countries.
His Excellency Mr. Mehmet Simsek, Minister of Treasury and Finance of the Republic of Turkey, said that the political relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Turkey are wonderful and that this is reflected in the commercial relations, which are witnessing great development, adding that all conditions are conducive to strengthening these relations and all we have to do is pave the way. … pic.twitter.com/AoG6o5W0Zg
— Qatar Chamber (@Qatar_Chamber) October 9, 2024
Trade volume
For his part, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Qatar Chamber, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, praised the strength of relations with Turkey, noting that they are in constant and continuous development in all fields, especially the economy, tourism, and others.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Qatar Chamber said that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached 4.75 billion Qatari riyals in 2023, including 1.64 billion the value of Qatari exports and 3.11 billion the value of imports from Turkey.
He added that petroleum products and raw aluminum come at the top of Qatari exports to Türkiye, while the main Qatari imports include transformers, foodstuffs, and others.
Sheikh Khalifa stressed the Chamber’s keenness to support and develop ways of cooperation and partnership between business owners from both sides, and the desire of Qatari businessmen and investors to invest in Türkiye.
He also called on Turkish businessmen and investors to learn about the investment opportunities available in Qatar in various fields such as energy, tourism, real estate, agriculture and food, and to benefit from an attractive investment environment and world-class infrastructure accompanied by a modern financial system and advanced legislation.
#Shots From Business Meeting “Invest in #Turkey“, in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Mehmet Simsek, Minister of Treasury and Finance of the Republic of Turkey, His Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, President of the Qatar Chamber, His Excellency Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, President of the Qatari Businessmen Association, and His Excellency Dr. Mustafa Koksu, Ambassador of the Republic… pic.twitter.com/cCUT4z5MV8
– Qatari Al-Raya (@alraya_n) October 9, 2024
Qatar is at the top
Furkan Karaki, Deputy Head of the Investment Office of the Turkish Presidency, said that the State of Qatar is of the utmost importance to them, stressing that Qatari-Turkish relations have witnessed a remarkable development on the economic level, significant growth in the level of mutual investments between the two countries, and a boom achieved in the level of trade exchange.
The Deputy Head of the Investment Office of the Turkish Presidency stated in his interview with Al Jazeera Net:
- Qatari investments in Türkiye are diverse and their total value reaches $10 billion.
- These investments are mainly concentrated in the real estate, trade, tourism, financial services and infrastructure sectors.
- There are 220 companies with Qatari capital that are fruitfully active in various Turkish sectors.
Karaki reviewed a set of statistics since 2003, and confirmed that Türkiye was able to attract $255 billion in foreign direct investment, as follows:
- 68% of them came from Europe.
- 8% of America.
- 7% from the Arab Gulf countries.
- 14% from Asian countries.
He concluded his speech by saying that the Arab Gulf countries are among the countries in the Middle East that invest the most in Turkey. In terms of foreign direct investment, there are 15 billion dollars in investments coming from the Gulf region, the most from the State of Qatar with 10 billion dollars, followed by the Emirates, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman and Bahrain, expecting an increase in the volume of investments. Saudi investments during the next few years.
