Turkey will continue to invest in the future of Romania

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Interview with Mr. Omer Susli, President of the Turkish Businessmen Association (TIAD)

published in issue 4548 at 2009-10-29

What are the prospects of Turkish-Romanian business relations, taking into account the present economic crisis?

When we refer to Turkish-Romanian business relations we might be mistaking or being limited if we consider this relation only under the effect of current economic situation. First of all we should think that there is no crisis in the history which remained permanent. Therefore we would better think about the potential and the possibilities in this bilateral relation without the affect of the crisis. Because the effect of the crisis will continue another let us say 2-3 years. But when you talk about the relation between two countries, the period of evaluation shall not be so sort rather a long one. At this point we have to state that the relations between Romania and Turkey are not a common example. We believe that this relation has reached to a strategically partnership level considering partnership in NATO, EU and strategic projects like NABUCCO.

In sum, having in mind the facts that Romania will be again one of the most attractive countries in Europe for investment and there will be a again let’s not say boom but a fast development (because it is needed and has to be realized), infrastructure investments will be carried out and Turkey has very ambitious targets for its 100th anniversary, and the most important is that there is a real friendly and developed relations between two countries in all the aspects.

At that point we have to emphasize that the trade relation between Romania and Turkey has been a balanced one. The deficit of one partner has never been passed 300 million Euros. In a volume of 7.5 billion euros trade relation 300 million surpluses is not so significant.

In sum, after the effecs of the crises will disappear we will start to see the upward trend in Turkey-Romania trade relations.

Last year, TIAD was optimistic about the growing trend of the Turkish investment in Romania. What can you tell us about the figures of 2009 comparing to the ones last year?

To be sincere, the figures of 2009 are not satisfactory at all. However, we have to be objective and realistic. When there is a minus growth of %8 and increasing unemployment with an alarming pace and having in mind Turkey is effected by the crisis as well. Therefore, we have witnessed almost a 40-45 % decline in the level of bilateral trade.

However, the important indicator should be the place of Turkey in Romania’s foreign trade as a partner. Turkey is 4th partner of Romania in terms of export and 6th partner in terms of import in 2009 too. So we could easily reach the conclusion that there is not a decline in the bilateral relations but in the amounts, as it is the same case in Romania’s trade relation with other countries.

How do the Turkish businessmen assess the present Romanian market? Is there a time for cautious actions to preserve their business as it is, or for further investments and expansions?

Actually this is not a specific issue to Turkish investors. The same question or dilemma is valid for Romanian and all other business people. Is it time for development or for keeping the status without being harmed?

Unfortunately there is not a general answer to this question. Each company has to have its own tailored solution. When this period is very good for growth and for new investment, it can be a period for a company only to keep position and try to survive.

Generally speaking, of course there is reluctance in investing nowadays, also because of the lack financial possibilities, but at the end of the day we believe that the one who overcomes the crisis will be stronger player in the market.

In other words, we believe the potential and capacity of Romania as a trustful partner and we will continue to invest in the future of Romania.

What is TIAD’s strategy for next year? How do you plan to tackle the development of the bilateral trade, what special events and visits are scheduled in 2010, to further promote Turkish-Romanian economic and commercial partnership?

Our main strategy for the next year is focused on revitalizing the relations. In our opinion it will not be a difficult mission because there is a very well established base for this. As we stated before there is not a decline in terms of the quality of the relation but the quantity. But the decline of the quantity is because of the crisis, minus growth, etc not because there is a problem to be solved in Romanian-Turkish trade relation.

We are going to organize from each country two business missions. Therefore we will be involved in 4 trade missions’ organization. Apart from this, we are going to inform the possibilities of Romanian market in Turkey and Turkish market in Romania through our collaboration with Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey and National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.