US investors impressed with Turkey post-coup progress

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

American investors and businessmen are "impressed" with Turkey's rapid recovery despite recent setbacks in its political and security spheres, a Turkish official on Friday told Anadolu Agency.

Arda Ermut, president of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT), pointed to reconciliation with Russia, terror attacks and the July 15 coup attempt, and said the Turkish government did everything on its agenda to improve the investment climate in the country.

"American investors told us they are very impressed how fast the Turkish economy has picked up after the coup attempt, financial sectors not being negatively affected, the strong resilience of the Turkish people against this insidious attack and how fast they gathered around their elected leader," he said.

The UN General Assembly gathering in New York was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's second visit to the U.S. in the last six months, after he visited Washington DC at the beginning of April for the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit.

Ermut said American investors who met Erdogan in the U.S. capital earlier this year were also impressed with how fast the Turkish government has since improved its investment climate for foreign businessmen and entrepreneurs.

"Investors had told us in Washington that they want to lower their investment costs in Turkey. Our government has taken steps accordingly, and they were surprised to see how fast the investment environment in Turkey improved," he said.

Regarding the terrorist bombing in Istanbul's Ataturk airport in late June, Ermut said Turkish Airlines continued operating just six hours after the attack, and foreign investors were also pleased with that development.

"All this shows that Turkey is not much affected from shocks. This presents itself as a strong case for the well-being of the investment environment in Turkey," he said.

Ermut added that now a reconciliation process between Ankara and Moscow is underway, after a Russian fighter jet was brought down last November, the Turkish economy will undergo a swift recovery, since trade relations between the two countries will be improved.

He noted that the hardest thing for Turkey is to attract new foreign investment known as "green field" -- a type of foreign direct investment where a company builds its operations in a Turkey from the ground up.

Thinking long-term -- five,10, or 30 years, such investors focus on criteria such as a country's potential, young population, political stability, Ermut said, and added: "When foreign investors look into those criteria they see that Turkey is in strong hands."

There is a problem, however, for first-time investors coming to Turkey, according to Ermut -- the issue of perception.

"Those investors, who never been to Turkey, or last visited it a decade ago, tend to see Turkey as just another Middle Eastern country. We want to do our best to change this perception and introduce ourselves accurately," he said.

Ermut said one way to fix that is to bring foreign companies' CEOs in Turkey to their host countries and let them speak about their experiences.

"They become our business ambassadors, talking about Turkey wherever they visit. This is a much more effective way to publicize our country and its economy climate," he told.

Ermut noted that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday met with the CEOs of approximately 30 American companies in New York. Those firms control a total of $2 billion of portfolio and have a combined revenue of about $800 million.