Turkish president urges stronger UK business links
Relations between UK and Turkey have offered huge benefits, Abdullah Gül tells CBI Annual Conference
The president of the Republic of Turkey said today
that it was vital to further strengthen UK-Turkish business links
to offset the growing crisis in the eurozone.
His Excellency Abdullah Gül contrasted Europe's economy with Turkey's which he said was based on sound macroeconomic foundations and was well-placed to be the "rising star" of the fast-growing Eurasia region.
He lambasted the leaders of the eurozone for "lack of political will and ineptness" in tackling a crisis that had left the world in a "balance of economic terror".
The Turkish president used his keynote speech to warn that a growing perception of a "new looming global crisis" had adversely affected the outlook of consumers, producers and investors.
"The lack of political will and ineptness in taking courageous decisions and actions to cope with these problems further aggravated the situation in the eurozone economies," he said.
Mr Gül told CBI Annual Conference the G20 group of advanced and emerging economies must act to prevent a "sudden plunge into full-fledged global depression".
"It is of utmost importance to render the G20 platform more effective as it is the best mechanism available to overcome such a dismal outlook for the global economy," he said. "We need a strong and co-ordinated international response to overcome the global economic difficulties."
Speaking ahead of a state visit to the UK as a guest of Her Majesty The Queen tomorrow, Mr Gül said the UK was Turkey's second-largest export partner and inward investor in the country. The relationship had delivered immense mutual benefits in terms of exports and inward investment, he said.
More than 2,300 British firms including Tesco, HSBC, Vodafone and BP, had invested more than $4.1 billion in Turkey, he said. "We would like to see new investors from the UK and we encourage our private sector to increase their presence and investment in the UK," he said.
He said the Turkish government was committed to doubling trade volumes between the two countries over the next five years. "We need to stimulate growth and create new jobs," he said.
"It is all the more important today to further strengthen Turkish-UK business links in order to overcome economic difficulties."
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