By IANS
Mumbai : Turkey is planning to introduce investment-friendly structural changes in its policies that will allow foreign companies to operate as local companies with full control.
“Presently, the television news industry is the only sector in which the limit has been capped at 25 percent for foreign holdings. However, in most sectors we will bring about a total change, permitting foreign companies to operate as local companies,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told IANS here late Wednesday night.
The visiting dignitary said like India, even the `Turkish economy has undergone a total overhaul.
“Turkey was different five years ago, today it is a totally different country. We have brought about many structural reforms, ranging from banking to investment. There are opportunities in almost every sector,” he pointed out.
He chatted with IANS on the sidelines of an interaction session with the industry heads organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Wednesday night. Babacan said legal work is easier and friendly in Turkey.
“For instance, in the special economic zones, corporate tax is zero percent and in the fast developing regions, we even provide 100 percent loans. Our prime objective is that we want to increase exports from our country,” he said.
Turkey’s Gross National Produce (GNP) in 2007 stood at US $500 billion and exports increased from $36 billion in 2002 to $107 billion in 2007. Currently, Turkey is targeting exports worth US $125 billion in 2008 and on its 100th anniversary in 2023, the country wants to be among the top 10 countries in the world.
Since Turkey is an active member of the European Union (EU), any company incorporated in Turkey will also get an opportunity to exploit the entire European Union markets.
“European Union allows free movement of goods among its member-nations where there are zero quotas and zero customs conforming to EU norms for produces,” he explained.
Earlier, in his formal address at the CII session, Babacan said one of the main reasons behind urging the Indian business community to invest in Turkey is primarily because of the fact that both countries have the oldest civilisations in the world, share similar values like democracy, secularism, pluralism and cultural diversity.
Babacan will reach New Delhi Friday to hold discussions with political leaders in the capital.