Distinguished members of DEİK Turkey-Kuwait Business Council,
Dear valuable business partners,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to be part of today’s webinar on the launch of a precious report, prepared by Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) Turkey-Kuwait Business Council.

I am always happy to see how active DEİK Turkey-Kuwait Business Council on adding multiple dimensions to the economic relations between Turkey and Kuwait. As Turkish Embassy in Kuwait, we are proudly part of this dynamism by supporting their activities wherever they are.

Economic and commercial cooperation is at the core of Turkey-Kuwait bilateral relations. Therefore, by launching a report on bilateral trade and foreign direct investment, the Business Council is again underlining a crucial aspect of our relations.

As two brotherly countries, Turkey and Kuwait maintain exemplary relations under the leadership of His Excellency President Erdoğan and His Highness Emir Sheikh Nawaf.

However, the level of our economic and commercial relations is still falling behind our excellent political relations. Despite encouraging figures even during the Covid-19 pandemic, there is still a big room for further development.

The Covid-19 pandemic has threatened economies globally, but it has also opened windows of opportunity. We need to adapt the changes rapidly and continue to seek new opportunities.

Last year, Alhamdulillah, the pandemic had a slight impact on our bilateral trade and investment figures. It shows that Turkey and Kuwait, as well as the economic relations between our countries are resilient. This is the guarantee of our future strategies.

The world has been grappling with deep, devastating and transformative problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic for the past 2 years. Turkey is one of the few countries that has managed to stay strong during this difficult period and even increase its power.

At the peak of the pandemic, Turkey became the second country with highest growth rate, with 1.8%. This was not coincidental, as we continued with growth rates of 7.2% in the first quarter of 2021 and 21.7% in the second quarter. As President Erdoğan stated recently, we expect to complete the year 2021 with 9% growth.

While investments decreased by 35% globally during the pandemic period, they have hardly slowed down in Turkey. We want to increase the scale of international investments in our country even higher. For this, we will transform our investment incentive system into a much more attractive structure.

There are promising indicators for Kuwait’s economy, too. Experts are optimistic about the growth of the Kuwaiti economy in the coming period.

Strong growth trends in most business sectors reflect the significant improvement in the operating environment, supported by the high vaccination rates in Kuwait, the easing of restrictions and the return to normalcy.

IMF expects the Kuwaiti economy to expand with a real GDP growth of 4,3% for 2022. So, this will necessarily be reflected on all business sectors.

Dear participants,

Currently, there are 383 companies in Turkey having Kuwaiti investors. Total foreign direct investment inflows from Kuwait to Turkey between 2002 and 2020 already passed 2 billion dollars. The largest financial institutions and companies of Kuwait have investments in Turkey. They operate in different sectors from finance, food and beverage to real estate and industrial.

On the other side, the appetite of Turkish companies to enter into Kuwaiti market is increasing, too. There are around 50 Turkish companies operating in Kuwait. Most of them are in construction sector and contributing to the development of Kuwait’s infrastructure. So far, 49 projects have been undertaken by Turkish companies in Kuwait with a total worth of 8,4 billion dollars.

They are undertaking the state-of-the-art new international airport and signature infrastructure projects.

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention tourism, which have been positively affecting trade and investment as well, for the last 10 years.

Distinguished guests and business partners,

The world is on the eve of a new and radical transformation. We have significant advantages to capture this new revolution, where many complex elements from climate change to artificial intelligence are combined. Turkey will not miss this new change in the global system. It will reach its targeted levels in all areas.

In this process, it is my greatest hope that Turkey and Kuwait will grow together and further strengthen their cooperation in all areas.

We need new and more success stories. Not only in our region, but also around the globe.

It necessitates an increase and diversification in our mutual economic relations. We need to develop multidimensional cooperation in critical areas, such as defence industry, health and education.

There is a mutual political will to further our relations in all fields. We have legal framework as well as regular governmental mechanisms for cooperation in economic fields. For example, we are planning to hold next Joint Economic Committee in Turkey in the near future.

On the other hand, the engine of the business is the businesspeople themselves. That’s why, I am happy to observe an increase in the interaction between Turkish and Kuwaiti companies and businesspeople. As Turkish Embassy in Kuwait, we will continue to act as a bridge between them.

Due to the pandemic, we had to do most of the activities, including today’s webinar, virtually. However, with Kuwait’s normalization and resumption of visas, I hope the interaction between businesspeople of our countries will also increase. We are looking forward to mutual business meetings and trade delegations.

Dear guests,

I would like to thank Ms. Ebru Özdemir, Chairperson of DEİK Turkey-Kuwait Business Council, as well as DEİK team for their efforts in preparing such an instructive business guide. It covers valuable information regarding investment climates, how to start a business, as well as rising key competitive sectors in both Turkey and Kuwait.

I believe it will be not only guiding, but also encouraging for those who would like to start business between Turkey and Kuwait.

I hope business people can make maximum use of this precious report.

Thank you!