Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to today’s timely webinar, organized by Turkey’s Investment Office with the support of our Embassy and Kuwait Finance House.

I am pleased and privileged to be part of such exceptional event, which will provide valuable insight about the investment opportunities between Turkey and Kuwait.

Today, distinguished professionals will be providing guidance for Kuwaiti investors. I believe their presentations with first-hand information will find good reflection in the minds of businesspeople.

Therefore, let me draw a general framework and a vision.

Dear participants,

As two brotherly countries, Turkey and Kuwait maintain exemplary bilateral 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, there is still a big room for further development.

While the global Covid-19 pandemic threatens economies, it has also opened windows of opportunity. As we are talking about investment, we need to follow the opportunities.

Last year 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 important to build our strategies.

Turkey’s economy was one of the few economies to avoid a contraction despite the pandemic and it expanded 1.8% in 2020. Our economy continued to grow 7% in the first quarter of this year. The recent sharp momentum in Turkey’s vaccinations is also raising hopes of a strong economic performance in the rest of the year.

Throughout the pandemic, Turkey has shined not only in health care, but also in the fields of production, logistics, public security, employment and social support.

Dear friends,

With its geographical location, dynamic population and high-quality work force, Turkey is already one of the safest investment destinations in the world.

Therefore, Turkey has managed to attract approximately 225 billion USD of international direct investment since 2003, increased investments over time positioned our country as a production, export and management center.

Turkey is targeting to increase its market share in global direct investments to 1.5% by 2023. For this purpose, my government is determined to improve Turkey’s investment environment.

Dear participants,

Currently, there are 382 companies in Turkey having Kuwaiti investors. Total foreign direct investment inflows from Kuwait to Turkey reached to 2 billion USD between 2002 and 2020.

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 concrete mixers and trailers.

They are the success stories of Kuwaiti investors who trusted Turkey as a safe country.

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 USD.

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

They are the success stories of Turkish business who believed in the future of Kuwait.

Dear investors and potential investors,

Turkey and Kuwait will grow together. 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 investments.

We need to develop multidimensional cooperation in critical areas, such as defence industry, health and education.

We need to go beyond traditional investment fields. We should think outside the box.

Youth is the future. Technology is the future. Turkey is a youth-driven, digitally active, hotbed of innovation.

Every year, around 500 start-ups are established in Turkey. In the last two years, we had two unicorns joining the club. Many Turkish start-ups are looking for international funding rounds. Why not Kuwaiti tech funds be one of the sources?

Dear guests,

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. However, the business will be done by the businesspeople.

That’s why, I am happy to observe an increase in the interaction between Turkish and Kuwaiti companies.

As Turkish Embassy in Kuwait, we are trying to act as a bridge between them.

We did not stop during the pandemic, and held virtual B2B meetings.

I hope travel restrictions will ease soon and businesspeople would move freely. Turkey has already begun easing curbs, and offers safe travel.

Let me finish by thanking the organizers as well as the participants for making the event happen.

Thank you all for being with us today.