US companies introduced to Turkish incentive scheme

Turkey's new investment incentive scheme is the world's greatest system, and will hopefully lead to an international investment boom, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said yesterday at a New York meeting of the River Club. Caglayan was explaining the new scheme to the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of several large American firms. On the train ride to Washington D.C., after the River Club address, Caglayan told reporters that Turkey was increasing its activities in six areas of the U.S: Georgia, Atlanta, New York, Washington D.C., Houston and Illinois. These regions make up 46 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Caglayan said that before the River Club meeting his team had met with five huge American firms, whose total turnover was $300 billion, or roughly 40 percent of Turkey's GDP. "We told them about our incentive scheme and they told us which operations they wanted to take part in and how they would foster employment," Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said.