(http://www.reuters.com/)Political tensions are high between Turkey and Israel after the Turkish prime minister called the Israeli commando attack on an aid ship heading for Gaza a "bloody massacre".
However, business relations between the two countries continue as normal. In terms of volume, Turkey ranks number eight for Israeli trade after the two sides signed a free trade agreement in 2000. "The business community is upset and a little concerned, but mutual trade is continuing," says the chairman of the Israeli-Turkish Business Council.
Mutual benefits
The total trade volume between the two countries in 2009 was $2.5bn, according to Turkey's state statistics institute. Trade ranges from agriculture to military equipment to energy.
Some Israeli companies have joint ventures with Turkish manufacturing facilities, which enables them to export from Turkey to the world. Those investments do not appear in the statistics on trade between the two countries, suggesting that economic ties between the two are possibly deeper than the figures indicate.
A lot of Israeli tourists also visit Turkey - although many have cancelled holidays because of advice from the Israeli government saying it is not now safe for them to travel there.
Trade unharmed
Menashe Carmon of the Israeli-Turkish Business Council says he does not envisage any major problems unless firms are dealing with a government company.
"But in private talks, people who were positive towards Israeli policies have difficulties in understanding and accepting what has happened," he says.
"We are now at the peak of contention. I believe in a few weeks, things will be clearer and people will have a more moderate reaction," he maintains.
He feels certain that current events will not adversely affect or influence existing projects.
By James Melik (BBC World Service)
However, business relations between the two countries continue as normal. In terms of volume, Turkey ranks number eight for Israeli trade after the two sides signed a free trade agreement in 2000. "The business community is upset and a little concerned, but mutual trade is continuing," says the chairman of the Israeli-Turkish Business Council.
Mutual benefits
The total trade volume between the two countries in 2009 was $2.5bn, according to Turkey's state statistics institute. Trade ranges from agriculture to military equipment to energy.
Some Israeli companies have joint ventures with Turkish manufacturing facilities, which enables them to export from Turkey to the world. Those investments do not appear in the statistics on trade between the two countries, suggesting that economic ties between the two are possibly deeper than the figures indicate.
A lot of Israeli tourists also visit Turkey - although many have cancelled holidays because of advice from the Israeli government saying it is not now safe for them to travel there.
Trade unharmed
Menashe Carmon of the Israeli-Turkish Business Council says he does not envisage any major problems unless firms are dealing with a government company.
"But in private talks, people who were positive towards Israeli policies have difficulties in understanding and accepting what has happened," he says.
"We are now at the peak of contention. I believe in a few weeks, things will be clearer and people will have a more moderate reaction," he maintains.
He feels certain that current events will not adversely affect or influence existing projects.
By James Melik (BBC World Service)
No comments:
Post a Comment