Dear company representatives,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to address the Turkish as well as the German aviation industry company representatives benefiting from the ongoing “Aircraft Interiors Expo” and “World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo” held in Hamburg.

The aviation sector has been progressing rapidly and playing a great role in the international and intercontinental integration and unification in the last decades. As a transportation hub between Europe and Asia, Turkish aviation sector has become one of the leading sectors of our economy and has approximately been growing % 10 annually since 2003.

Istanbul has managed to handle passengers from all over the world with two international airports; Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen. The construction of Istanbul’s new airport officially started on May 1, 2015 and its first section is planned to open in 2018.

We observe a similar development in the production side as well. Turkish companies’ growing interest year by year for the Aircraft Interiors Expo and World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo in Hamburg, verifies this progress. This year there is a record number of participant companies from Turkey, 25 in both EXPO’s. I would like to congratulate those who have been contributing to this development, especially Turkish Cabin Interior TCI and Turkish Seat Industries TSI.

I have no doubt; this development will lead to further achievements in the Turkish aviation industry in the coming years.

Distinguished guests,

I would like to underline that Turkish economy has successfully passed a great test after the coup attempt in July 2016. Turkish people resisted and united to defend democracy.

Financial markets continued to operate the next day in a normal manner and maintained their activities. This is a significant proof of the strength and resilience of the Turkish economy, just like its democracy.

Turkey, being the 17th largest economy in the world, 6th largest in Europe and the fastest growing economy amongst the OECD, offers significant opportunities in business. Turkish government has been pursuing sound macroeconomic strategies, prudent fiscal and monetary policies and realized structural reforms. As a result, Turkey has enjoyed an uninterrupted economic growth in the last 29 quarters.

Turkey has managed to attract foreign direct investment over 170 billion $ in total since 2002. In 2015, compared to the previous year, FDI figure increased by 35% to 16.9 billion USD despite the ongoing regional tensions. Turkey has become one of the most attractive direct investment destination in 2015. In the last 10 years, mega projects with an amount of 250 billion USD were completed, including big scale energy and infrastructure investments.

Dear guests,

Leadership, cooperation, partnership and coordination efforts are indispensable elements for the aviation sector.

The annual Aircraft Interiors Expo taking place in Hamburg and our gathering this evening here serves exactly for this purpose.

In line with the “win win” principle, the successful and yet growing Turkish aviation industry, is open for German companies in building joint ventures,- and their investments.

Germany is the biggest foreign investor in Turkey, after the Netherlands. There are nearly 6,400 German companies active in almost every sector. German investments in Turkey since 2002 amounted to nearly 8,5 billion Dollars. We, as the Turkish Consulate in Hamburg, are at your service for further providing you information in regard to incentives and other details.
There are about 100 thousand Turkish-German businesses operating in Germany. Their annual turnover amounts to approximately 50 billion Euros and they employ almost 500 thousand people. The Turkish investments in Germany in the period of 2002-2015 reached 1.9 billion Dollars.

In my humble opinion, we need to put aside our concerns stemming from the day to day politics and rather take into account the sound and deep rooted economic relations between our countries.

I would like to thank all of you and a special thanks to the “Defense and Aviation Industry Exporters' Union” for the sponsorship of this gathering.

I wish you all a wonderful evening and a fruitful business discussion.

Thank you.