With free trade zone, Van vies to be industrial and commercial capital linking east and west

Van, the 7,000-year-old cradle of civilization in eastern Anatolia, will become a major industrial and commerce center if plans for a free trade zone on the border between Iran and Turkey come to fruition. "We can create a new China, Bangladesh or Egypt along the Turkey-Iran border for the textile sector," Van Gov Munir Karaloglu said yesterday. The 7,000-year-old eastern Anatolian city is on the cusp of a massive economic regeneration thanks to Iranian-Turkish political efforts that have resulted in a joint project to build an international free industry and commerce zone. Using Iran’s cheap energy and Turkey’s know-how and technology, the idea is to produce goods in eastern Turkey on the Iranian border and transfer them to Central Asia and Iraq via a railway along the route of the historical Silk Road, which extends all the way to Pakistan. "Turkey has free trade zones and industrial zones, but no international free industry and commerce zone yet," said Karaloglu. "Industrialists from both countries will use a common area and energy from a foreign country. Customs taxes will be abolished, although the legal groundwork hasn't been laid yet." The project was first announced in September when Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergun traveled along the 280-kilometer border by helicopter to find a suitable area. "The biggest handicap for our manufacturers is the cost of energy," Karaloglu said. "If we manage to supply our producers with cheap Iranian energy, an economic boom in the region will follow. They always complain about difficulties in investing and operating in these countries and want to come back to Turkey for more reasonable costs," he said, adding that he hoped the project could help the unemployment-stricken region.