SPEECH BY MR S ISWARAN, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY AND EDUCATION AT THE SINGAPORE-TURKEY BUSINESS COLLABORATIONS SEMINAR, 12 JUNE 2009
Mr Şevket Ilgaç, Deputy
Undersecretary, Undersecretariat of Prime Ministry for Foreign
Trade
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning to all of you. It is a real pleasure to be here in beautiful Istanbul and I would like to thank the government and people of Turkey for the warm hospitality extended. The Deputy Undersecretary has talked quite a bit about the global economy and challenges facing us ahead and I don’t wish to dwell on that except to make the point that there are two elements we are dealing with.
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning to all of you. It is a real pleasure to be here in beautiful Istanbul and I would like to thank the government and people of Turkey for the warm hospitality extended. The Deputy Undersecretary has talked quite a bit about the global economy and challenges facing us ahead and I don’t wish to dwell on that except to make the point that there are two elements we are dealing with.
First is coming up with measures in the short term to
cope with the downturn and to help businesses through this period
so that when the upturn comes about, we are in a better position to
capitalise on that. The second element, perhaps even more
importantly, is the ability to think beyond the downturn and to
look at where the opportunities are for future growth so that we
can now start positioning ourselves and capitalise on that. And
that is the context in which bilateral relationship between Turkey
and Singapore is an important
one.
The bilateral trade numbers last year were in excess of
US$1 billion. This year we will undoubltedly be affected by the
economic downturn but the real bilateral economic exchange will
only come when our companies really engage one another, to partner
each other, in order to explore and participate in opportunities
that are available in each other country but also in third
countries in the region in which we are located. What is the basis
for this collaboration between Turkish and Singaporean businesses?
I like to give you three considerations that I believe are quite
compelling value propositions. Firstly, that of geography. Turkey
has positioned itself as the gateway to quite a wide geographical
region and the economic opportunities that exist in the region.
First, Turkey is part of the customs union with the EU and Turkey
also develop strong linkages with the emerging markets of Central
Asia, Africa and Middle East. I think these are interesting markets
and markets which are from the Singaporean perspective, which are
new and exciting an can offer considerable prospects. Similarly,
Singapore is located at the heart of the region of which is growing
rapidly. One of the clear outcomes from the current global crisis
changes is the shift in centre of gravity in global goal from the
Western hemisphere, United States, to the eastern hemisphere
particularly that of China, India. We have well developed expert
groups in China, India and ASEAN. Collectively, we are looking at a
market in excess of 3 billion people. So the geography value
proposition where each is a gateway to the other is a clear
opportunity.
The second is cultural. Both countires are at the nexus
of interaction between Eastern and Western traditions. Turkish
companies are very familiar with being,t on one hand, dealing with
western corporations,whether European and American and at the same
time deal with partners from emerging markets in Central Asia and
so on. And that require a certain mindset and ability to navigate
and merge two
cultures.
In Singapore, we are very much in a similar position
because Singapore is at the crossroads of trade and investment
flows, at the points of intersection between flows from Europe and
US and into Asia and flows out of Asia into China, India and our
ASEAN cultivation region out to the world. Our companies are
therefore very familiar with managing the challenges of cross
culture, in particular eastern and western culture to bring them
together in a productive
manner.
The third which has potential for collaboration between
Singapore and Turkish companies is one based on capabilities.
Turkish companies have built up long and deep capabilities in a
wide range of sectors. The larger companies like
Koç are well known
but the mid size companies which also clearly have strong
capabilities are the ones that need to behiglihlight and likewise
in Singapore we have capabilities in several sectors. Some of the
larger companies are already present in Turkey such as PSA who
together with Afken have opearing a port in Mersin. We have many
other companies and several of them have developed capabilities in
a wide range such as precision engineering, electronics, tourism,
manufacturing and so on. So I believe the ability to bring these
capabilities together and the people of Singapore would like to
underscore the potential of R&D collaboration. We have a very
well established network of research institutes which work very
closely with the industries so for Tukrish companies particularly
those which are technology based, there is opportunity to
collaborate using R&D and working with our institutes. That is
another way to bring our capabilities together. The scope is
significant.
At the government to government
level, we have signed an Investment Guarantee Agreement and that
should give our companies confidence but the most important thing
is the business to business level so efforts now to formalise
cooperation between the two business communities is a very
important one but I would like to add, even more importantly is to
operationalise the intent of this collaboration by assuring an
effective and productive
partnership.
So on that note, I want to say once again it has been a
pleasure to be here and wish all of you much success in your
business
matching.
Thank
you.