Turkish contractors aim to win $30 bln projects abroad

Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan said yesterday that next year Turkey's contracting industry hope to win $30 billion in international projects. Caglayan said that over the decades Turkish contracting firms have fulfilled more than 5,600 projects in 83 countries, worth a total of $180 billion. "Up to 2002 firms undertook $44 billion worth of projects in foreign countries, but this figure rose to $135 billion when this government came to power," he said during an award ceremony in Ankara. "This means that our contractors fulfilled 25 percent of their projects up to 2002 and 75 percent after that." The contracting industry's international project target is $50 billion for 2015 and $100 billion for 2023, he added.