Texas Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce

Turkey’s Borusan Invests in U.S. Pipes in Bet on Fracking Surge

Turkey’s Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi & Ticaret AS (BRSAN) plans to expand its U.S. energy pipe business with a production plant in the country as new technology propels a surge in U.S. oil and gas production.

Turkish Economy Minister Receives Texas Comptroller Of Public Accounts

turkish-economy-minister-receives-texas-247146_o Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan received Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs and her delegation in the ministry in Ankara on Monday.Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan received Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs and her delegation in the ministry in Ankara on Monday. Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan received Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Susan Combs and her delegation in the ministry in Ankara on Monday.

We hosted Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski

Macedonias_Prime_Minister_Nikola_Gruevski__TTACC A Macedonian government team presented the country's investment benefits and conditions for starting and running a business before representatives of 20 energy and petrochemical companies in Houston. The team in Houston is led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski for a series of business promotions in the United States.

Houston- Turkey Business Forum was held in Houston on November 2, 2012.

110812-a1234 Houston-Turkey Business Forum was being held in co-operation with Texas Turkish American Chamber of Commerce, Houston Consulate General of Turkey ,Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Young Businessmen Chamber of Commerce (JCC). Consul General Cemalettin Aydin said Turkey-US relations and the strategic nature of these relationships mentioned, economic, trade and investment relations is not at the desired level, the state on the basis of the trade volume of Turkey's largest trading partner, the Teksas'la increased by 93% to $ 4.24 billion in

Getting a Start on Facility in Kaufman,Texas

mitas The shovels lifted dirt, as local and foreign dignitaries marked the beginning of a new steel fabrication plant in Kaufman, Texas. The partnership effort is between local company Falcon Steel and Mitas Energy and Metal Construction, Inc. of Turkey will see the formation of another company — New Falcon Steel.Ann Glasscock, president and CEO of the Kaufman Chamber of Commerce, applauded thecooperative efforts of all the involved governmental bodies along with the Chamber and the Kaufman Economic Development Corporation.

Lifting off in style: Houstonians celebrate a visit to Turkey in advance of fall Consular Ball BY DEBORAH ELIAS

Deborah_Elias_Turkey_June_2012_ttacc1 Have always wanted to travel to Turkey so when I received an invitation to attend a trip with the Houston Junior Chamber Consular Forum 2012 and the Texas Turkish-American Chamber, I quickly jumped at the chance. So much so that I found out about the trip on a Tuesday and was on a plane the following Sunday. Most people probably think that Turkey is part of the Middle East but in fact this is not true. It is however, an amazing place where east meets west, literally.

Houstinian company to invest $2 bln, help Turkey fight current account deficit

26 July 2012 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ANKARA

An American energy firm will invest $2 billion in Turkey and make an important contribution to the country's fight against its current ceo_ttacc_m_nassar

account deficit (CAD), Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan announced on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Houston-based Energy Allied International's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Nassar in Ankara, Çağlayan said the US firm will be producing a number of chemicals as a result of their investment in the country, but that two of its products are of particular importance because Turkey currently imports them in large numbers from overseas. “The production of these two products -- which Turkey incurs a foreign trade deficit of some $700 million to procure -- will be an important part of our efforts to prevent a further decline of the CAD,” he said. The minister did not, however, name the two products, nor where exactly in Turkey the said investment will be made.Because its economy grew at an above-world-average rate of 5.4 percent per annum between 2002 and last year, Turkey, which is nearly completely dependent on foreign sources for its energy needs, has a constantly growing foreign trade deficit. Last year this deficit exceeded the $100 billion mark, or 13 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The deficit also resulted in a wide CAD which caused the country's foreign reserves to bleed out, bearing the risk of eventually dealing a fatal blow to its balance of payments if the government fails to find a permanent solution to the problem.

In the face of a quickly widening CAD last year, the central bank adopted an unconventional policy mix of lower interest rates and higher required reserve ratios to make Turkey less attractive for highly volatile, short-term international capital inflow while at the same time making it more difficult for consumers to take out loans from banks, in order to tame credit expansion throughout the year. The measures were coupled with government action taken late last year by the executive branch to substantially raise what is called the private consumption tax (ÖTV) on certain -- mostly imported -- products such as cars and cell phones.

The structural issue, however, is that Turkish industries rely heavily on foreign intermediate goods to produce final goods to be exported abroad. To address the issue from that angle as well, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government recently introduced a new investment incentive package that offers special incentives to investments in particular fields -- such as the automotive, chemical, textile and machinery sectors -- defined as strategic.

Foreign Direct Investment Into Turkey 1.4 Bln USD

Turkish economy minister has said that foreign direct investment that flowed into Turkey in May 2012 was zafer_caglayan_ttacc
1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

A statement by Zafer Caglayan said that international direct investment that flowed into the country in the first five months of 2012 rose by 11 percent to 6.5 billion U.S. dollars. "Turkey is a safe haven for foreign investors," he said.

While several countries especially EU states have been suffering from economic problems, Turkish economy continued to grow, he said.

There were problems in the EU banking sector, he said, adding that international direct investment into the Turkish banking and finance sector reached 678 million U.S. dollars between January and May 2012.

International organizations also confirmed that Turkish economy kept growing, the economy minister said.

533 foreign and 53 Turkish & foreign capital companies started to serve in Turkey in the first five months of 2012, he added.