US company to invest USD $3bn in Turkey

Turkish Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan on Thursday stated that they have reached the final stage in a possible agreement with Energy Allied, a US company willing to invest in Turkey and the company was planning to make an investment worth 3 billion dollars within scope of the incentives. Caglayan held a press conference in regards to his Texas talks in Austin prior to departing for Los Angeles. Caglayan stated that they have reached the final stage with Energy Allied, an energy company willing to invest in Turkey in the area of petrochemicals. Stating that Energy Allied was planning to establish facilities to produce coal, ammonium, urea and sulphuric acid, Caglayan said, they were also ambitious about producing an alternative fuel for diesel which would highly benefit Turkey as it is 70 percent foreign dependent. Caglayan stated that this investment would decrease Turkey's imports by 1.5 billion dollars, increase its exports and create jobs for 4,000 people in Turkey. Caglayan said that they favored opening representative agencies in the states of US rather than the centre as establishing commercial relations in federal dimensions extended the process. Emphasizing the works of the Trans Atlantic Free Trade Agreement between the EU and US, Caglayan said, "The quotas imposed on our products have taken our right of freedom of movement." Caglayan also criticized that the Customs Union Agreement between EU and Turkey created unfair competition and added that a free trade agreement between the EU and US would mean a disaster for Turkey. Also touching on the solution process, Caglayan said that once the Kurdish issue was solved, there would be huge investments made in Turkey's eastern and southeastern regions.