Panel 3 of the TAA Annual Convention entitled Advancing Economic Cooperation between the U.S. and Turkey was also held at the same place between 1:45 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Moderator discussant of the panel was Ambassador James Holmes, President of American Turkish Council. There were panelists including Honorable Jose W. Fernandez, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, Honorable Davut Kavranoglu, Deputy Minister of Science, Industry
and Technology of Turkey, Dr. Kemal Dervis, Vice President and Director of Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution, and Mr. Taner Nakiboglu, Member of the Executive Board of Naksan Holding. There are some notes from the panel 3:
Dr. Kemal Dervis: The meltdown in Greece and Italy will eventually affect Turkey. It is in everybody’s interest to see Euro zone crisis resolved. A contribution from IMF, along with ECB, can tremendously help this problem resolved. Emerging markets like Turkey look favorably to IMF help.
Honorable Jose W. Fernandez: The United States and Turkey can work together. Economic growth in Turkey is based on small and medium-sized businesses. On the other hand, US economy is based on large-sized businesses. This disparity between the two countries needs to be addressed. American companies want to work with Turkish companies in the Middle East and Africa.
Honorable Davut Kavranoglu: Last year Turkey’s exports were $135 billion. A third of that was industrial products. Our goal for 2023 is $500 billion in exports. We also want to see more high tech exports. Turkey’s trade volume with the US is $15 billion. How about taking this number up to $100 billion in ten years? Our government is providing a lot of incentives for R&D centers, high technology investments in Turkey.
Mr. Taner Nakiboglu: Small and medium sized companies are critical in Turkey’s economic growth. Main problem in Turkey is the lack of qualified young people. Hence my company is supporting Zirve University in Gaziantep. TUSKON type of organizations and Turkish-American groups are instrumental. We established US-Turkish Business Council. We are trying to build a joint industrial zone. Click Here
