Tüzmen to Indian businessmen: Urge your gov’t to sign FTA
Zaman
Tüzmen to Indian businessmen: Urge your gov’t to sign FTA
23 March 2008
Foreign Trade Minister Kürsad Tüzmen has called on Indian businessmen to urge the Indian government to sign a free trade agreement between the two countries.
“Everything is realized through action. I have asked a lot of you, but it is no longer sufficient just to sing a song, we must also dance,” he said, also referring to Mahatma Ghandi’s statement, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
The Turkish-Indian Business Forum was held on Friday in Mumbai as part of a Turkish trade and engineering delegation’s visit to India, organized jointly by the Undesecretariat of Foreign Trade, the Aegean Union of Exporters (EİB) and the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON). Delivering an opening address at the forum, Tüzmen stated that the internal dynamics of the Indian economy have created big opportunities at a time of global crisis and for this reason, they had decided to visit India with a delegation of 170 people.
Tüzmen said a free trade agreement would serve as a catalyst for trade relations between the two countries. “In the last two years, we have undersigned free trade agreements with Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Georgia, Albania and many other countries. These countries were at first not willing to make these deals, but after we signed them, our trade volume with them increased, and we have seen good results. Now, it is time to do the same with India. If the free trade agreement is signed, the trade volume will grow in a short time from $2.6 billion to $10 billion,” he said.
The state minister invited the Indian businessmen to visit Turkey and get to know it better, adding that to facilitate such trips, the flights to India by Turkish Airlines (THY) should be doubled. “If businessmen demand this, then politicians will do it. I have perhaps overburdened you, but only because this place is a center of trade,” he stated. Sushil Jiwarajka, the head of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Western Zone Council, in his speech, thanked Tüzmen for talking more like a businessman than a politician. “If the world had more politicians like you, then businessmen would have fewer problems,” he said.
Jawarajka noted that the business circles in Mumbai would convey Tüzmen’s requests to the politicians in New Delhi. “India is planning to make $1 trillion in investments in 10 years. In the last two years, Indian businessmen have started to look into global markets. External investments have increased. There is a great potential for reciprocal investments. Turkey and India will continue to be shining stars in the new world economies. The relationship between our countries is promising in terms of fulfilling our mutual purposes. A promising period has begun,” he said.
TUSKON President Rızanur Meral briefed the forum about their international activities to introduce Turkish businessmen to global markets, saying they wanted to evaluate the sources of wealth of both countries in joint projects. Meral invited the Indian businessmen to attend the Asian-Pacific Economic Bridge program to be held in June in Turkey. Meanwhile, it was reported that a delegation of 20 Indian businessmen operating in the jewelry sector will visit Turkey toward the end of this month to hold trade talks.
After the speeches, the businessmen of both countries met with one another.
The engineering companies in the trade delegation were seeking new business opportunities, and some company representatives negotiated on selling their products to Indian markets and buying raw materials or commodities at competitive prices. Some in the Turkish textile sector see India as posing a “greater threat than China” because of “quality production and cheaper labor.”
The following are some of the views of the Turkish businessmen in the delegation regarding the Indian market and the talks they had with Indian businessmen:
Muhammed Öğücü (Sırma Halı and Avşar Halı, carpets): “For 20 years, we have been supplying jute thread from India. When the costs increased in Turkey, we also started to procure cotton thread from India six or seven years ago. I joined the delegation in order to gain more knowledge of the market. India is very advanced with respect to hand-woven carpets, but it has started to import machine-woven carpets. Last years, we exported machine-woven carpets to this country. In other words, we have come to this country both to sell and buy.” Fırat Yemeniciler (Polisan, paint): “This is our first visit to India. Product prices are very low, and for this reason, it would be hard to import goods to this country. But it is possible to buy raw materials. Trade is possible for specific products.”
Celal Korkmaz (Korkmazlar Mobilya, furniture): “I wanted to get a better idea of what the Indian market is like. Actually, I deal with imports. I import accessories from China. I look at the markets from the point of view of an importer, and I saw that prices in India are very low. It would be difficult for us to import goods to this country. However, I can buy goods from this country and sell them to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and other countries with which I currently have commercial ties.” Vahao Sayın (Sayınlar Gıda, food): “I have come here to evaluate business possibilities for selling apricots. It seems as if it would be possible to sell apricots to high income groups, but we would definitely have to launch good promotional campaigns. Because of the changes in the foreign exchange rates, we have been selling 70 percent of our production to domestic markets. If I can make a good deal here, I want to sell apricots and buy walnuts and cashews.”
Mehmet Sait Değer (Değer Nakliyat, transportation): “We have come for talks on logistics. Trade between the two countries can be increased, but only with the help of suitable logistics infrastructure. We, as 60 companies in Turkey, are planning to merge in order to create a logistics base in Turkey. This is expected to be operational in one year. India is a big market. We have met with the companies that will cooperate with us.”
Nihat Kurt (Nazlı Gıda, food): “We are selling beverages to Mozambique, Morocco and Pakistan. For several years, we have been preparing to make an entry into the Indian market. We have had very satisfactory meetings in the last two days. A number of companies gave us quotations. I will select one among them. I will introduce the Nazo brand to this market.”
