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Belt and Road Investment and Financial Cooperation Forum Held in Turkey
 

The Belt and Road Investment and Financial Cooperation Forum, sponsored by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Turkey, and the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, was held in Ankara, Turkey on July 26. Mr. Yi Huiman, ICBC Chairman, Mr. Yu Hongyang, Chinese Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Fatih Dönmez, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, and Turkish government officials, as well as representatives of more than 150 Chinese and Turkish companies participated in the forum.

This forum aims to establish a platform for the communication and exchanges between Chinese and Turkish entrepreneurs and investors, help the business communities of the two countries to seize opportunities, and promote economic and trade investment cooperation. During the forum, ICBC (Turkey) and the Turkish authorities signed a syndicate entrustment letter for the refinancing arrangement of the Third Channel Bridge and the North Marmara Expressway in Istanbul, and a memorandum of financial cooperation on the natural gas underground storage expansion project.

Mr. Yi Huiman addressed at the forum, saying that ICBC attached great importance to the Turkish market. As a key overseas institution, ICBC (Turkey) has provided extensive and high-quality financial services for Turkish infrastructure and livelihood projects by relying on the Group’s wide range of network layout, comprehensive financial services and excellent service teams. In the future, ICBC is willing to deepen dialogue and exchanges with all walks of life in Turkey, strengthen strategic cooperation, promote the establishment of a normalized cooperation mechanism in accordance with the market principle and commercialization principle, and provide more comprehensive and diverse financial support to the multi-level, multi-field and multi-form cooperation between China and Turkey. Meanwhile, ICBC will continue to give full play to the Group's advantages, attracting more Chinese companies to invest in Turkey and helping more Turkish companies run business in China.

Mr. Yu Hongyang pointed out that Turkey served as an important passage for the ancient “Silk Road”, and the “Middle Corridor” strategy initiated by Turkey echoed, to a large extent, with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, thus leaving great potential for the future cooperation between the two countries. In recent years, China-Turkey relations have gained many tangible achievements in the course of pushing forward the Belt and Road Initiative. Since entering the Turkish market in 2015 in particular, ICBC has been acting like a bridge and a link to support a large number of key infrastructure projects in Turkey, including ports, transportation, energy, hospitals, communications, aviation, etc. It has granted loans worth more than USD5 billion over the years.

Mr. Fatih Dönmez, said that Turkey has been blessed with an advantageous geographical position and good economic foundation. Turkey is committed to building itself into a regional economic and energy power, offering investors with a good business environment, thus foreseeing a broad prospect for cooperation between China and Turkey.

It is known that, ICBC entered the Turkish market in 2015 to set up a subsidiary, namely ICBC (Turkey), as the first Chinese-funded commercial financial institution in Turkey. ICBC (Turkey) adheres to the business strategy of “deeply rooted in local market, radiating over neighboring countries and connecting Europe with Asia”. It gives full play to the Group's advantages in customers, capital, management and service network and facilitates localized operation. At present, ICBC (Turkey) has developed into an integrated financial institution holding business licenses covering banking, securities, investment banking, and asset management. It is able to provide various financial services, such as deposits and loans, trade finance, remittance & settlement, IPO, restructuring and M&A advisory, and asset management.


(2018-09-11)
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