New US ambassador arrives in Ankara

James Jeffrey, the new US ambassador to Turkey, yesterday arrived in Ankara. Speaking at Esenboga Airport, Jeffrey said, "I am very happy to be back in Ankara." Jeffrey has served in Turkey three times, in both Ankara and Adana.

State Minister for Foreign Trade Kursad Tuzmen yesterday said Turkey is working to diversify its export markets in response to shrinking demand from European markets. "There is stagnation in the world economy and Turkey's exports to these markets have been hurt, but we're diversifying our export markets, particularly at a time when demands from European markets are shrinking," he said. "We're planning to respond to this by turning to regional and neighboring countries." He said exports to countries such as China, India , Iran , Iraq , and Syria as well as countries in the Gulf region, North Africa and Central Asia would continue to grow in the months to come, adding that acting to fight the global crisis in coordination with neighboring and regional countries would benefit everyone. In related news, Tuzmen and Jia Qinglin, head of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, participated in a Turkish-Chinese Trade and Economic Opportunities Forum in Istanbul over the weekend. Speaking at the forum, Tuzmen said that Turkey's exports to China had risen from just $550 million in 2005 to over $1 billion last year. He said that Turkey's exports to China rose 50 percent this January to September year-on-year. He added that they expected exports to reach $1.5 billion by year's-end. Urging Chinese businessmen to import more from Turkey, Tuzmen called on them to help narrow the bilateral trade deficit. Also speaking at the forum, Qinglin said that last year Turkish-Chinese trade totaled $10 billion, adding that this year it is expected to reach $13 billion.