Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Jeddah on Monday on the primary leg of a three-state Gulf tour with enterprise and funding on the prime of the agenda.
The Turkish president is main an enormous delegation of presidency ministers and officers, and about 200 enterprise leaders, traders and firm house owners.
He was obtained on Monday night by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and met with a number of Saudi ministers and officers.
His go to to Saudi Arabia shall be adopted by journeys to the UAE and Qatar, with enterprise boards going down in all three nations. “Our major agenda shall be joint funding and industrial actions with these nations,” Erdogan stated.
Commerce between Turkiye and Saudi Arabia amounted to $6.5 billion final yr and reached $3.4 billion within the first half of this yr. Turkiye’s commerce with all of the Gulf states has shot up from $1.6 billion to about $22 billion previously 20 years. “With enterprise boards to be organized, we’ll search for methods to maneuver this determine a lot additional,” Erdogan stated.
“Turkiye may have critical funding alternatives within the protection trade, infrastructure and superstructure investments within the three nations. As well as, these nations may have the chance to buy sure belongings from Turkiye.”
The go to is anticipated to lead to a number of agreements throughout sectors together with vitality, prescription drugs, expertise, meals, logistics, agriculture, and petrochemicals.
Turkiye’s pressing want to draw overseas direct funding and increase its worldwide forex reserves is intently tied to this go to. Erdogan has turned to traders within the Gulf searching for exterior sources earlier than November, when Ankara faces a number of debt repayments.
Prof. Aylin Unver Noi from Halic College in Istanbul stated elements such because the Abraham Accords, the change within the US administration, the 2021 AlUla settlement, the financial affect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the struggle in Ukraine, and the earthquakes in southeastern Turkiye had all contributed to the current improvementin relations.
“Exploring new financial partnerships is a crucial determinant issue of this new overseas coverage method,” she instructed Arab Information. “Final month, Aramco met 80 Turkish contractors to debate $50 billion price of potential tasks in Saudi Arabia.”
Hakan Akbas of the industrial diplomacy agency Albright Stonebridge stated Erdogan had prioritized rebuilding relations with Turkiye’s regional neighbors to draw a lot wanted financial help for the financial system beforecrucial elections in Could.
“Because of Erdogan’s go to, bilateral commerce and Saudi tourism flows to Turkiye will improve. There may even be new offers for army and protection gear procurement because the Saudi authorities will need to diversify suppliers past the US,” Akbas stated.