Qatar- Turkey bilateral trade has increased from $340mn in 2010 to $723mn in 2012 mainly on account of surge in imports from Qatar, said Doha Bank Group CEO, Dr R Seetharaman.
He was speaking at a conference Doha Bank hosted on “Opportunities in Qatar and the GCC” in Istanbul on Friday.
The guest of honour was Qatar’s Consul General Sultan bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud. Senior Turkish and international bankers were among those present.
Major exports to Qatar included electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, iron and steel, metals, textile and non-metallic mineral products. Major imports from Qatar were gas, non-ferrous metals, plastics, organic chemicals and metals alloys, he said
Qatar is the 7th biggest market for Turkish contractors. Turkish firms are holding some 108 projects in Qatar with a total value of $12.2bn as of May 2013.
Companies from Turkey are targeting up to $30bn of contracts from Qatar in the run-up to the FIFA 2022 World Cup. Turkish FDI in Qatar was $14mn in 2012.
Turkish direct investment in Qatar is led by the construction sector. Qatar’s FDI in Turkey was $274mn in 2012, Seetharaman said.
On bilateral developments between GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) and Turkey, he said, “Saudi Arabia was Turkey’s 12th largest goods export market in 2012. Saudi’s bilateral trade with Turkey increased by 63% between 2010 and 2012 and touched $5.8bn in 2012. Turkish foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia was $41mn. Turkish direct investment in Saudi Arabia is led by the retail and contracting sectors.”
Turkey-UAE merchandise trade increased by 192% between 2010 and 2012 mainly on account of increase in exports to UAE.
Turkish FDI in the UAE between 2002 and 2012 amounted to $114mn.
As of May 2013, the total amount of the projects undertaken by Turkish firms in Bahrain was $284.7mn.
Kuwait’s FDI in Turkey stood $1.14mn in 2012, while Oman-Turkey bilateral trade exceeded $300m in the same year.