UAE ambassador happy to see Turkey focused on Middle East

“We have very much welcomed the change in the Turkish government’s focus on relations with a number of countries in the Middle East, especially with regard to the United Arab Emirates. It has brought a huge spike in business and trade relations as well as investment flow both ways,” he said in an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman. “I do not see any sign whatsoever that Turkey is becoming another Iran and moving away from Europe while paying more attention to the East,” he added.

Al-Mualla emphasized that he is pretty much occupied with promoting business deals between the two countries. “My job is to facilitate trade here first and foremost, and I think the recent figures in that regard speak volumes, he said.

In fact, recent trade figures show the trade volume between Turkey and the UAE increased steadily from 2001 through 2008 but took a sharp dive in 2009 due to the economic crisis but are now bouncing back nicely in the first half of 2010. There was a trade volume of almost $9 billion between Turkey and the Emirates in 2008, ranking the UAE the third most important trading partner for Turkey’s exports.

However, the 2009 figures reflect the dampened mood in international trade because of the world economic crisis, and trade volume fell to $3.5 billion. This was mostly due to the drop in Turkey’s iron and steel exports to the region as construction in this region slowed down. Steel product exports to the UAE accounted for a 12.47 percent share of Turkey’s total steel product exports in the January to August period of 2010, slightly up from the 12.20 percent share recorded in the first eight months of 2009. Before the crisis, Turkey’s share was 38.23 percent in the same period of 2008.

The UAE ambassador said the numbers are reverting back to pre-crisis levels, albeit slowly and painstakingly, and emphasized that the most important dynamic in bilateral relations is “political will,” and it is still strong on both sides. “This commitment to expand relations between the Turkish government and the UAE government is key and will keep fueling the engine of growth in our business ties,” he noted. For the first seven months of 2010, the latest available figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) show that Turkish exports to the UAE are improving on the previous year’s figures.

UAE citizens choose Turkey

The growing interest of UAE residents in Turkey is not limited to business deals only, however. Turkey has become an attractive tourist destination for a number of citizens in the UAE in recent years thanks to popular Turkish soap operas broadcast on Arab televisions across the Middle East. “Turkish series have invaded our country, so to speak,” Ambassador Al-Mualla said with noticeable satisfaction in his voice, stressing this has led to an increase in the number of travelers from the UAE to Turkey.

In recent years, the Turkish TV series “Gümüş” (Silver), a melodrama originally broadcast in Turkey from 2005 to 2007, became a pop-culture phenomenon when it aired across the Arab world as “Noor” (Arabic for “light”) last year. The show followed the travails of a beautiful young woman, Gümüş, played by Öden, who marries into a wealthy family. Another Turkish series “Kurtlar Vadisi” (Valley of the Wolves), which is aired internationally on a United Arab Emirates-based TV station, has also broken viewing records, along with a number of other shows produced in Turkey.

“Our citizens find Turkey much better suited to their travel needs, and they feel much more comfortable here because of shared cultural, historical and religious ties,” the ambassador noted. “Whatever they can get from visits to Europe, they can get right here in Turkey at a much cheaper rate,” he added.

The recent TurkStat survey finds that the UAE is one of the rising stars in Turkey’s portfolio of countries that send an increasing number of travelers to destinations in Turkey. The latest figures indicate the number of tourists visiting Turkey in the January-July period increased 6.67 percent over the same period last year, from 15 million to 16 million, with the UAE posting a 74 percent increase in its share. According to data from the Tourism Investors Association (TYD), the overall number of tourists from Arab countries to Turkey has risen by almost 50 percent in the first six months of this year over the same period of 2009. Travel agencies expect a further increase in the number of Arab tourists in 2011.

Increased air traffic

The frequency and availability of direct flights between the UAE and Turkey is a testament to growing relations -- not only tourism but business as well. Major national carriers like Turkish Airlines (THY), Emirates and Etihad Airways fly direct to İstanbul, while low-cost carrier Flydubai has just started flights to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport. THY currently operates 18 flights a week, including 14 to Dubai and four to Abu Dhabi. Etihad Airways launched direct flights to İstanbul in 2009, serving the city four times a week. AnadoluJet Airlines, a low-cost carrier subsidiary of THY, is also looking to get a slot in Dubai to capitalize on increases in hub traffic there.

The traffic is not only limited to business and leisure travelers of course, and there has been a considerable number of high-level political visits between Turkey and the UAE in recent years. “The visits of political leaders and official delegations point to the fact that we have much closer ties in our relations than we used to have,” according to the ambassador. Both governments seem determined to expand business trade. Turkish contractors are looking to increase their share of the UAE’s projected infrastructure investments worth $300 billion in the next five years. “Turkish businessmen can take advantage of new industrial zones and free trade areas we will be creating in the UAE,” he said, stressing that doing business is very easy in his country.

Turkish companies numbering around 400 are very active in the UAE and have been involved in projects worth $5.3 billion over the last three years. During a visit to the UAE last December, Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan revealed that 35 Turkish companies have undertaken undertook 77 projects worth $6.2 billion in the country so far.

The UAE is also important for the Turkish jewelry industry, whose exports put Turkey among the top three gold jewelry producers, along with Italy and India. The UAE was the biggest purchaser of Turkey’s gold jewelry last year, at $348.9 million, while the US followed with $120 million in Turkish gold jewelry imports.

On the other hand, UAE investors are looking to invest in Turkey, especially in the areas of agriculture, food, energy, health, logistics and property development, the diplomat explained. “You are blessed with abundant natural resources like water and minerals. The human resources pool is very good for foreign investors who are keen to capitalize on skilled labor and professional employees,” Al-Mualla said. He also stated that Turkey has removed a lot of restrictions for foreign businesses that operate in Turkey, making the country investor friendly. The UAE’s investments in Turkey amounted to $5 billion by December 2009.

Nevertheless, foreign direct investment (FDI) still mainly comes from European countries despite an overall fall in FDI by 50 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period of 2009. Investments from Europe accounted for $1.3 billion of Turkey’s total $1.6 billion FDI in the first half of this year. The total amount of Turkey’s FDI fell to $1.644 billion between January and June, down from $3.245 billion for the same period last year, the Treasury’s deficit balance sheet showed. But the good news for the UAE is that FDI inflows from this country continued to rise, although the figures are low when compared to Europe.

Increased focus on education exchange

The UAE’s top diplomat in Ankara is very much determined to see relations go further. He has recently set up a UAE-Turkish Society for Sciences and Culture to bring together Turkey’s intellectuals and businessmen as well as to promote common cultural and religious ties between the two countries. “Education is my passion, and we could achieve a whole lot more if we were able to cooperate closely on educational exchanges,” he said, adding that many colleges and universities in the UAE provide world-class education to international students. The embassy has already started offering full scholarships to Turkish students, and the ambassador is working to increase their number.

The same potential in educational cooperation exists for Turkish higher institutions as well. “But unfortunately there is a major handicap there impeding our efforts in that regard,” the ambassador said, referring to the headscarf ban in Turkish universities, adding: “I know many UAE ladies want to study in Turkey, learn about Turkey, its culture, language and history. But they get turned off when they hear there is a ban on ‘hijab’ or the headscarf in Turkish universities.”

Turkey and the UAE are also working on easing visa restrictions for common passport holders with a goal of abolishing it altogether. UAE travelers can easily get a visa at the airport, while Turkish citizens get their UAE visas in one day. “The current proposal to lift the visa is being discussed, and it is up to the UAE cabinet to decide on the matter,” the ambassador said. He added that there are a number of proposals and memorandums of understanding (MoU) on the table between the two governments all of which aim to make cooperation much easier between the two countries.

One recently signed MoU envisages that Middle East Technical University (METÜ) and Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) will establish campuses in Abu Dhabi, the capital and second largest city in the UAE.