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Roundup: Turkey may benefit greatly from China's economic transformation: economists

Xinhua, March 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Turkey may benefit greatly from China's ongoing economic transformation as well as from deepening inter-governmental project cooperation and growing Chinese investment in the country, Turkish economists have said.

"China's innovative economic policies can boost both the demand- and supply-side of the local, regional and global economies, as well as stimulate global trade and economic growth," Ramazan Tas, director of Ankara-based HESA Economic Research Center, told Xinhua.

Tas said that the Turkish economy could benefit from China's supply-side structural reform, while both countries could facilitate what he called the "synergistic economic effects" if they both design policies in line with the "Belt and Road" Initiative.

Turkey, as a major country located on the route of the ancient Silk Road, has already welcomed the China-proposed initiative.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a memorandum of understanding on the harmonization of China's "Belt and Road" Initiative with Turkey's Middle Corridor Initiative on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya in southern Turkey last November.

The Middle Corridor passes through Middle Asia, the Caspian Sea and Southern Caucasus as a modern revival of the ancient Silk Road between Turkey and China.

The initiative was declared as part of the government program in Ankara right after last November's general election. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has vowed to intensify government efforts to realize the initiative.

However, there is still a lack of awareness among Turkish businesses on the significance of the Chinese market and economy, Turkish economist Huseyin Sumer said.

In a conference held last December in Istanbul by the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, the wealthiest business club in Turkey, attendees have agreed that Turkish companies need to learn more about China in order to gain more trade and economic opportunities.

"We are trying to attract much more investment in Turkey from China and we think that Turkish companies need to understand the country," the association's President Cansen Basaran-Symes said at the conference.

The good news is that the situation has improved over recent months. In a survey conducted in February by the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) among local exporters, researchers found that China has emerged as one of the top-three target markets for Turkish businesses in the first quarter of 2016. Endi