"We attach great importance to the presence of the Turkish private sector in our 2030 investments"

Saudi Arabian Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Falih stated that they attach great importance to the presence of the private sector in Vision 2030 investments and said, "We attach great importance to the presence of both the Saudi Arabian and Turkish private sectors. We want investments to be different and diversified here." The first of the business forums planned to be held by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) within the scope of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Gulf tour covering the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Saudi Arabia was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jeddah. Organized in cooperation with DEİK and the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Investment, with the participation of Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, and Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, the Saudi Arabia-Turkey Business Forum attracted great interest from the business worlds of both countries. Speaking at the event, Saudi Arabian Minister of Investment Abdulaziz al-Falih said that they were very happy to organize this business forum with DEİK and to take steps towards further developing relations between the two countries. Falih noted that official relations between the two countries have recently become much stronger and more diverse, and spoke about mutual visits and collaborations. Falih stated that the two countries have recently organized numerous forums, meetings and conferences, and that relations between the countries have deepened as a result of this, and continued his words as follows: "The first of this forum was organized in December last year. Many businessmen attended there and important agreements were signed. This forum, which we are currently organizing for the second time, is actually being held in addition to a very important visit. This forum is being held with the arrival of Mr. President Erdoğan. We are holding this forum with very high-level visitors. In other words, these high-level representatives coming together from both sides show how important relations are and will be. It shows the importance that both governments attach to the process. It is a very important study to increase both Saudi Arabia's investments in Turkey and Turkey's investments in Saudi Arabia." Minister al-Falih: I am proud of the growth of the Turkish private sector Saudi Arabian Investment Minister al-Falih spoke about his country's Vision 2030 projection and said that they will diversify investments and focus on many sectors. Falih, who emphasized that they attach great importance to the presence of the private sector in the Vision 2030 approach, said, "We attach great importance to the presence of both the Saudi Arabian and Turkish private sectors. We want investments to be differentiated and diversified here." Falih noted that they are targeting an investment of 3.3 trillion dollars by that date within the scope of the 2030 goals and talked about what will be done in this area. Falih, who stated that companies in both countries have reached significant power, made the following assessments: "Wherever I go, I see the strong presence of companies from both countries. I cannot express how proud I am. I would like to say that I am proud when I see how great the investments and technologies made by the Turkish private sector are both in Africa and the Middle East. What we have not been able to do so far is to bring the strengths of these two sides together. I cannot imagine how great a power we will display when we bring the strengths of the private sectors of both countries together." Call for cooperation in areas such as real estate, tourism, industry, agriculture and food Minister al-Falih stated that there are great mutual opportunities in the two countries and called on Turkish and Saudi Arabian private companies to cooperate. Falih, who emphasized that they can undertake major projects by cooperating in various sectors such as real estate, tourism, housing, industry, agriculture, food and mining, explained the support they provide to investing companies. Falih, who spoke about investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, said that they are carrying out new sectoral studies in areas such as mining, raw materials and renewable energy. Falih noted that they wanted the number of Saudi Arabian companies operating in Turkey to increase and said, "We should always be in communication and talk about how to further develop our cooperation. We must progress steadily in order to achieve our goals." Minister of Trade Bolat calls on Saudi businessmen to "invest in Turkey" Speaking at the event, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat expressed his pleasure in coming together with the business world on the occasion of the Saudi Arabia-Turkey Business Forum and spoke about the positive developments between the two countries under the leadership of their leaders. Noting that they continue to bring the business worlds together in order to develop economic and commercial relations with Saudi Arabia in all dimensions and to evaluate new cooperation opportunities, Bolat explained that the most respected and most engaged business people in their sectors from Turkey were present at the forum today. Bolat noted that they successfully carried out activities that enabled companies to establish contact with each other, especially the Turkish Expo Fair and Contracting Forum held in Riyadh this year, and said that they held very important meetings hosted by DEİK in Ankara and Istanbul last week. Minister Bolat: This business forum will be a very important turning point Minister Bolat said, "Today, this business forum will be a very important turning point in order to address you, the valued representatives of the business world, who are the real actors and field actors of our economic and commercial relations, and to evaluate the opportunities offered by our countries." Stating that the foreign trade volume between Turkey and Saudi Arabia was approximately 6.5 billion dollars in 2022, Bolat continued his words as follows: "Our goal will be to increase this figure to 10 billion dollars in the short term and to 30 billion dollars in the long term, in line with the vision of our esteemed heads of state. In an environment where our countries have strong economies, qualified labor markets and successful entrepreneurs, as well as the historical and cultural ties they have, it will not be difficult to take our economic and commercial relations to much higher levels. The complementary foreign trade structures of both countries bring the win-win principle to the forefront in our commercial relations. Turkish companies have gained the trust of Saudi Arabian consumers with their product quality and business ethics stemming from the Ahi culture." Minister Bolat: We aim to increase product diversity in foreign trade Minister of Trade Bolat emphasized that Saudi Arabia is one of the important suppliers and strategic partners of the Turkish industry, especially in oil, oil products and plastic products, chemicals, iron and steel products. Noting that their priority on the way to reaching the trade goal is to increase product diversity, Bolat made the following statements: "We also aim to create sustainable and unwavering ties between our business worlds. On this occasion, as the decision-makers in the economy of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, we will continue to work with all our might to solve all the problems you may encounter on this path. As one of the 10 countries that have signed the most free trade agreements in the world, Turkey also attaches importance to liberalizing our trade with the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In this context, we wish to liberalize our trade with the free trade agreement that we have started negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council and increase our commercial relations in a way that will be in the interest of both parties. We have full confidence that we will start these negotiations as soon as possible and implement the agreement with the support that the Saudi Arabian government will provide." Minister Bolat: There are more than 1,400 Saudi companies operating in our country Minister Bolat stated that they do not only view economic relations with Saudi Arabia on a bilateral basis, but also have the potential to establish strong cooperation in third countries, and said that cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia will create a strong synergy, especially in projects that will facilitate the access of Gulf countries to Europe and the world. "If a free trade agreement is signed between Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi companies will have the opportunity to reach world markets not only in our country but also through our country's extensive free trade network, thanks to the value chains that will be established," said Bolat, explaining that Turkey has the potential to reach 1.5 billion consumers with its gross national product exceeding 900 billion dollars and the Customs Union agreement. Bolat noted that mutual investments constitute an important dimension of economic relations and provided the following information: "In the field of investments, both countries offer a strong legal basis to their investors with the mutual promotion and protection of investments agreement and the double taxation avoidance agreement. In addition, we offer attractive opportunities to investors with our innovative and comprehensive investment incentive programs and 19 free zones. Saudi Arabia has direct investments exceeding 2 billion dollars in our country and more than 1,400 Saudi companies operating in our country. We thank them very much. We are always pleased to assist them as the Ministry of Trade. This fact is a clear indicator of the trust that Saudi investors have in our country. We care about more Saudi investors and companies benefiting from the opportunities offered by our country and we are waiting for them in Turkey." Opportunity areas between the two countries Minister of Trade Bolat said that they evaluate the prominent areas of digital transformation, artificial intelligence, energy efficiency and smart cities in today's world as important opportunity areas in developing economic cooperation between Turkey and Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, Bolat, who stated that a very important leg of the economic cooperation is the contracting and technical consultancy sector, completed his words as follows: "The Turkish contracting sector is an important sector of ours that has successfully completed 10,800 projects and 480 billion dollars of investment commitments in 133 different countries in the last 50 years since 1973. In 2022, Turkey ranked second among the world's 250 largest contracting companies with 42 companies. In addition to the important and prestigious projects within the framework of the 2030 Vision put forward by Saudi Arabia and followed with interest by the whole world, there are also strong cooperation opportunities between the two countries in the fields of smart cities and green transformation. We would especially like to emphasize that our Turkish contracting companies, which have proven their maturity on a global scale, are ready to take part in all projects within the scope of Saudi Arabia's 2030 Vision. The opportunities offered by our commercial relations, which draw their strength from history and their inspiration from our common values, to the business people of the two countries are increasing in every field. "It is time for all of us to work and produce. It is time to achieve new successes by working together."