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ISTANBUL, Turkey - 04/06/06 - Turkey wants to triple the current volume of trade with the US and is looking at California as a primary target for Turkish exports and investments.

''We wish to increase the current trade volume between Turkey and US to $30 billion by 2010,'' said Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen.

Tuzman spoke at a press conference at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport following his return late last week from a recent diplomatic visit to Washington, DC. 

Tuzmen noted that his visit to the US was organized to research potential trade markets, saying that California and five other US states have been specifically chosen as the most promising US domestic partners for Turkish business and investment.
 
Turkey is making difficult but necessary economic choices that have led to "unprecedented growth, low inflation and stability" while also assuming a position of major importance in the energy sector, a senior State Department official says.

E. Anthony Wayne, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, made his comments during a recent meeting of the American Turkish Council Conference in Washington, DC.
 
The US, he said, wants to work with Turkey to "shape … a future in which Turkey plays an ever increasing role in regional peace, stability and prosperity, in which Turkey is both anchored in Europe and a bridge to the East."

Progress in the past 12 months includes the opening of talks to join the European Union, Wayne said.

Turkey also stands to prosper from the December 2005 opening of the Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which brings oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

One of the many goals of the pipeline is relieving a bottleneck of oil shipping through the Bosporus, where in the winter of 2003-2004 oil tankers were backed up 30 days or longer.

"Turkey overnight has been catapulted into world attention as the crucial link between Caspian Basin and Central Asian energy reserves and European and world markets," said Wayne.
 
Inflation in Turkey has gone from a high of 70% in 2002 to below 8% at the end of last year, Wayne said. At the same time, real gross domestic product grew by nearly 8% in 2004 and 5% in 2005.

Turkey in 2005 posted $9.6 billion of major foreign direct investment (FDI) after years of attracting very low FDI levels, he said, encouraging Turkey to "further spur investment by eliminating policies that discourage investment."

For example, Wayne added, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and other major US soft drink companies have invested more than $500 million in Turkey and have created more than 7,000 jobs since 2000, despite "discriminatory 'cola taxes' " that reach as high as 47.5%.

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