Deputy Minister of Trade Mahmut Gurcan said, “To date, projects worth $492.6 billion have been undertaken and completed by our construction companies in 135 countries.”
The 9th Turkish-Arab Building-Construction Materials and Technologies, Interior Architecture, Furniture Fair, Cooperation Organization and the 6th Turkish-Arab Real Estate, Project, Investment, Financing Fair, Cooperation Organization, organized by TURAP and TurabExpo, will be held simultaneously on 20-21 December at Istanbul Pullman Istanbul Airport and Convention Center.
Speaking at the fair, Gurcan said that Turkish construction companies, with their human capital, technical know-how, adaptation to technology and discipline, do admirable work in sister geographies with cultural proximity to Turkiye.
Gurcan said, “In addition, real estate activities account for 3.7% of the gross domestic product. To date, projects worth $492.6 billion have been undertaken and completed by our construction companies in 135 countries.”
Stating that the construction sector stands out as a sector that touches every aspect of human life, from huge infrastructure projects to airports, hospitals, schools and, of course, warm homes, “The locomotive sector is accepted as a sponge sector with its feature of creating large employment, affecting many production and employment processes that concern many professional groups and activating the sub-sectors connected to it. The Turkish construction sector has a dense workforce due to the production of various goods and services.”
Gurcan continued as follows:
“Turkiye is among the world’s leading countries in the production and export of basic building materials. It brings our country to the forefront internationally with its price and quality, especially in products such as cement, rebar, iron and steel parts, ceramics, marble, glass, paint, electrical materials, plastic and aluminum construction materials, and heating and cooling equipment. At this point, we cannot help but mention our Turkish overseas contracting and technical consultancy sector, which has undertaken 11,901 projects in friendly and brotherly countries since 1972 and completed them with flying colors. According to 2022 data, the Turkish construction sector constitutes 4.9% of our gross domestic product (GDP). The sector’s share in employment is around 6%.”
“We are paying a high price for our freedom and independence”
Palestinian Ambassador to Ankara Dr. Faed Halid Mustafa underlined that Israel’s attacks still continue by land, air and sea.
“Israel’s targets are houses, hospitals, mosques, infrastructure, innocent people, trees. Every living thing is being destroyed, and the world has never seen anything like this before.” Mustafa said and added, drawing attention to the following:
“We support the resistance of the Palestinian people with all our strength. Hopefully, we will meet in the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. Jerusalem is the city of the prophets, Jerusalem is a trust for us. Therefore, we will never give it up and we will not forget it. We pay a high price for our freedom and independence. We will never give up. We will not surrender and no matter how much time passes, everything remains alive in our minds. We will never forget in any way. We will never forgive those who oppress us. We will never forget the oppressors who destroyed our dreams. We will never forget those who stood by and watched us fall into this situation. We express our great gratitude to the President of the Republic of Turkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the Turkish people for standing by us and supporting our people.”
Sabuhi Attar, Chairman of the Association for Cooperation of Turkish and Arab Countries (TURAP), said, “We aim to bring Arab business people to Turkiye with commercial delegations.”
Underlining that they will bring the construction industry together with Arab investors without intermediaries thanks to this fair, Attar said, “We are doing a very good organizational work in this regard. We have organized 20 organizations in this sense. This year we will organize our 21st organization. We are organizing a very important fair regarding building construction materials.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz