December 1, 2012

17th TUSKON trade summit sees 25,000 B2B meetings

Tuskon World Trade Summit
The 17th edition of the Turkey-World Trade Bridge summit, organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), saw 1,160 foreign and 1,000 Turkish businesspeople discuss partnerships in an estimated 25,000 separate meetings on Thursday.

The first day of meetings at the event brought businesspeople from a number of sectors, including textile and machinery, in İstanbul. Investors had the opportunity to discuss deals with their counterparts from the Balkans, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.

Among deals struck at the summit were a construction project by a Jordanian contractor valued at $225 million and a $10 million textile-product sale to Moroccan firms.

Jordan's Al-Jamal Trade agreed to build a housing project in Turkey valued at $225 million, company officials told reporters on Thursday at the TUSKON summit. Al-Jamal is expected to start the project in three months but did not provide details on its location. Company owner Hisham Al-Jamal said new investments -- housing, depots and manufacturing facilities -- could follow their first project in Turkey.

Moroccan New Pritting textile firm owner Mohammed Benjelou said a group of eight Moroccan firms agreed to buy Turkish textile products worth $10 million. “We have separately agreed to open an office in Turkey jointly with a local firm … We have been visiting different trade fairs, the latest was in China. I came here when I heard about the TUSKON event and I am happy to have done so,” he said.

Another foreign company that expressed interest in Turkish textile goods was Lesley Nkuna from South Africa. Masin Gitage Group of Companies representative Nkuna said it owned nine shopping malls in South Africa and sold textile goods, too. “We have decided to start selling Turkish textile products at these malls,” he said.

The summit ends today. The previous 16 summits saw more than 26,000 foreign and 40,000 Turkish businesspeople participate to create an estimated total trade volume of $26 billion, TUSKON President Rızanur Meral said on Wednesday.

Published on Today's Zaman, 29 November 2012, Thursday