Speaking about the meeting held in Dubai, President of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Nail Opak said, “The United Arab Emirates is aware that its income mainly from oil will end after a certain period of time, and it diversifies itself in this sense. When it diversifies, different sectors attract their attention. They have an interest in Turkey and sectors they want to invest in.”
Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Chairman Nail Olpak stated that there is an appetite for investment in real estate from the Gulf countries in Turkey, and said that they expect investments in this sector to increase as of May-June.
Olpak answered the questions regarding the “United Arab Emirates (UAE)-Turkey Partnerships in Construction and Contracting Round Table Meeting” organized by DEIK in Dubai.
Stating that investment is expected in Turkey in real estate, Olpak said, “I can predict from our meetings that this appetite will be within a framework that combines investment and tourism in the coming days, that is, as of May and June. We understood from our meetings here that it will increase with the warming of the weather. Therefore, they will continue to invest in real estate.”
Pointing out that real estate investments can be misinterpreted, Olpak said:
“Actually, the sale of real estate is like the exporter bringing in foreign currency at some point. In other words, you bring a foreign currency from abroad to the country as a result of real estate sales. You have an export withdrawal, there is an addition. You do not send the product you sell. The product stays in your own country. This is the second positive side of the job. It has a third party. You bring the owner, that is, the person who buys the product, to your country. The person who comes is also really coming as an owner in your country. Therefore, we need to evaluate the sector positively. We have companies that are negotiating in terms of investing in Turkey. I don’t mean to mention company names. And of course, we need to evaluate the funds side of the business. Here, trade mainly goes on the Dubai side. But we also see the weight of Abu Dhabi. So we will try to bring both together in a balanced way.”
“THEY WANT TO BENEFIT FROM TURKEY FOR THE 2040 VISION IN DUBAI”
DEIK President Olpak emphasized that successful commercial relations with the UAE can be recaptured, and said:
“We had a total annual trade volume of $15 billion with the United Arab Emirates. Unfortunately, this decreased to $3 billion in the past period. We are pleased with the current development. There was an increase of approximately 95% in our exports last year. As far as we can see in the exports of the first three months, we have an increase of around 40% again. The goal is to first catch the level we lost and then increase it. This is the mutual import-export side of the business. There is also the contracting side. To date, Turkish companies have realized 141 projects here. We have implemented a project of approximately $13.5 billion so far.”
Stating that the mutual talks brought the relations to a very successful level, Olpak said, “Looking at today, we have every field, but when we look at it as a priority and first opportunity area, Dubai has a 2040 vision and infrastructure and superstructure projects of $130 billion are on their table. Not in just one day, but by 2040. We got an offer from them. That was the satisfying part. They said that we know that your industry is very successful. Then we want to take advantage of this power.”
Olpak stated that they brought together important names from both countries by gathering project developers and investment seekers from both the public and private sector for the meeting.
“The UAE WANTS TO DIVERSIFY ITS INCOME”
Explaining the format of the meeting, Nail Olpak said, “25 companies from Turkey participated. We also have 30 participants from here. The companies themselves were introduced. As far as we can see from this meeting, there are talks on projects in the ongoing process. I think that’s the gratifying part of the event. We do not intend to leave the meeting on this basis. There are other areas of development and sectors.”
Stating that the sectors will diversify, Olpak continued as follows:
“The United Arab Emirates is aware that its income mainly from oil will end after a certain period of time, and it diversifies itself in this sense. When it diversifies, different sectors attract their attention. There are sectors that they want to invest in and interest in Turkey. I have seen 4 sectors come to the fore, energy, food, health, digital technologies. Digital technologies are on the agenda of all of us around the world. This is a welcome development. Probably in the next process, we will of course follow up and follow up the meeting in this contracting field, but we are on the road map to go with a big meeting in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul in general, which covers all our trade, exports and other areas.”
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz