Simsek: "Turkey should learn from other countries' successes in regional finance"

In Turkey's quest to make Istanbul a regional financial center, it should consider the success stories of other countries, such as Luxembourg, said Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek yesterday. "If we want to be a regional financial center, we certainly should solve the traffic problem in Istanbul and Turkey," Simsek told a seminar at the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) on financial partnership opportunities between Luxembourg and Turkey. A traffic jam caused him to be late for the IMKB's opening. "We have a large domestic market. This is very important for commercial and individual investors," he added. The IMKB has been successful in attracting small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) to public offerings, and the government supports this effort, he said. It is important that Turkey work with other countries to overcome its infrastructure woes, he said. "The issue or subject doesn't matter – we need to consider success stories in other countries if we want to be a regional finance center," he argued. "Thus, I see Luxembourg as an important example."