TOBB/DEİK President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, speaking at the beginning of the meeting, expressed his thanks to the Korean President for his visit to Turkey and the importance he puts on bilateral relations.
Stating that the diplomatic relations reaches 55 years back between Turkey and Korea, Hisarcıklıoğlu addressed the visiting President, “You will have witnessed it when you visited 7 years ago; the Turkish nation has a great love of the Koreans. We have many shared memories.”
Emphasizing that the interest shown to the Turkish National Football Team during the 2002 World Cup by Korean fans is an example of the fraternity to be found between Turkey and Korea, the TOBB President said, “We called our soldiers who participated in the Korean War ‘Koreans’. There are more ‘Koreans’ in Turkey than actual Koreans. We’ve considered you brothers for 60 years.”
Stating that they have not been able to expand these fraternal closeness into an economic convergence, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that, with the visit of the South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, they hope to sign agreements which will enable the economic relations between the two countries to reach an all time high.
Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the two countries have a wide variety of possible fields for cooperation such as energy, construction, defense and agriculture.
Stating that the lack of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Turkey and South Korea presents an unfair situation, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We want to develop bilateral economic affairs. We want the FTA negotiations to be finalized as soon as possible.”
Relating the difficulties encountered in partnerships, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “For us, partner means brother. We must turn our partnership into fraternity. We must share our profits.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that the Turkish business world is contributing to the global economy by buying global brands and that Godiva has elected to enter the South Korean market.
Stating that they wish to cooperate in all fields of work, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We are especially interested in cooperating with Korean firms in the Middle East and Central Asia.”
- Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan
The Minister of Economy Zafer Çağlayan also stated that the political, cultural and historical proximity between Turkey and Korea remain not reflected upon economical relations and expressed their wish that the foreign trade between the two countries should increase bilaterally.
Çağlayan stated that they are prepared to sign the FTA as the Turkish side for the best interest of both countries.
Touching on the new incentives system, Çağlayan said, “We are in the process of preparing an incentives system which our Korean friends will especially like in their sectors. The fields of automotive, chemicals, refining, electronics, aerospace will have significant part in the incentives. South Korean firms will prefer Turkey for the most competitive production.”
- South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak
The South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, stating that the Free Trade Agreement will lend impetus to economic relations, said, “We will work towards finalizing this soon.”
Touching on Turkey becoming a fast growing country despite the global crisis, Lee stated that if the rate of growth is maintained Turkey will become one of the prominent countries in the world.
Stating that there is potential for the development of economic relations and that businessmen stand ready to this end, Lee said that governments need to open the way for businessmen.
- “Korea and Turkey are similar in many aspects”
The Korean Knowledge Economy Minister Sukwoo Hong pointed out that significant ground has been covered in the FTA negotiations and that the two countries can cooperate in regards to the future.
Sukwoo pointing out that the two countries can operate in third countries by sharing know-how and technologies, said, “Korea and Turkey are similar in many aspects. We expect cooperation to be developed further.”
