STATEMENTS BY U.S. OFFICIALS
Remarks of Ambassador James F. Jeffrey At the 5th Annual ABFT Gala Dinner This is equally true, if not more true, in the case of Turkey. The Turkish economy ended their crisis, as you all know because you work in it, in extraordinarily good shape. It was growing very rapidly; it had advanced to the 17th or 16th largest economy in the world, which is why it is now part of the G20 group that is working to resolve the overall global crisis. The response to this, as in other countries, has various factors. First, measures, precautions taken by your own government - basically the internal economy: monetary and fiscal policies, and various regulatory and other actions - laws and such. Secondly, engagement in the international community: trade, investment, energy. I’ll touch briefly on all of these. Turkey, of course, is reviewing what steps it should, and can, take in this crisis. It’s engaged in negotiations with the IMF for a new agreement. The last very successful one ran out last year. This is an important project. We’re observers in this, but we hope that the two sides can come together and find a mutually acceptable solution that meets Turkey’s needs. At the same time, we do look at the importance to continue trade. There will be a great threat of protectionism; we are combating it in our own country. The initial stimulus package that was developed by the House of Representatives in the United States had some very troubling protectionist elements in it. Many of them were removed. President Obama is fully committed to fighting protectionism, but this is going to be a challenge in every country, and it is very, very important that we all adhere to the lessons that we learned in the 1930s. By the same token, as we’ve just heard, it is very, very important to not only trade goods but to trade investment. Turkey has been a very successful investment platform for foreign investment, but there’s one (inaudible) it was something like 18 billion dollars last year of new investment, despite the unfavorable economic climate. One reason for that is that you’ve just heard is the productivity of Turkish workers and the benefits of the Customs Union with the European Union. Once again, I want to point out both very successful steps that Turkey has taken and is helping it: the Customs Union with the EU, and the efforts with the IMF and the World Bank at the beginning of this decade. What this shows is that when countries are in trouble, and even when they’re not, when they’re trying to develop their economies quickly, it is crucial that one opens to the outside world. It’s crucial that one remains part of the international economy and part of the international system. That’s a lesson too many forgot in the 1930s, leading to both economic and eventually political and military catastrophe, and it’s important that we do not go down that road again. We are very confident that Turkey understands this, but we hope that Turkey’s friends - including in the European Union and in the United States - keep our doors open to Turkish products and keep our doors open for further integration with Turkey. That includes Turkey’s aspirations for EU membership. Finally, in this time of crisis, one area that cries out for further investment and cries out for international cooperation is energy supplies and energy independence. This is an area where we have been working very closely with Minister Güler, with the Foreign Ministry under Under Secretary Abakan and Foreign Minister Babacan, and with the entire Turkish government. Turkey’s role in this, as in the earlier efforts from Iraq to Ceyhan, and from Baku and Tbilisi to Ceyhan, to oil and followed up by a gas pipeline, has borne great fruits - not only the economic and energy fruits, but also political fruits, and tying together – literally – by pipelines these countries. And we need to see more of that and we need to see more energy independence because just like political independence, that gives a country choices and it encourages people to work together closely.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Conrad Hotel
Istanbul, Turkey
Thank you very much. Mr. Minister, Under Secretary Apakan, senior Turkish Government officials, members of ABFT, business representatives, Consul General Wiener - the American face in Istanbul - members of my Consulate, members of the Consular community, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great honor to be here, and it is a great honor to accept this high office that the ABFT has presented. I am very honored by this, and I am very, very appreciative of the opportunity to talk to you tonight and to do everything in my power to strengthen our economic and business relations because, as I’ll get into in a second, these relations are every bit as important as our political and security relations. It is somewhat intimidating to be up here to talk about economic and bilateral relations, just before two people who have done more for Turkey in that area than anybody I know practically - and that is Minister of Energy Güler and Under Secretary Abakan from the Foreign Ministry. But, I do have a few basic points to make, and then I will move out of the way and let them have the floor.
First of all, our bilateral relationship. The Obama Administration, of course, like any new administration, is reviewing all of our foreign policies, in an environment that is characterized by both war, the threat of war, insecurity in many areas, as well as the global economic crisis. It is a serious time. It requires serious action from serious people. We believe we have such a team in the United States, and we believe we have serious effective friends, such as Turkey, around the world and together we can deal with both of these problems. The new administration and the Turkish government have reached out repeatedly in the last few weeks. President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary Clinton repeatedly, General Jones (our National Security Advisor), and, just yesterday and the day before, our special emissary for the Middle East Mr. Mitchell - Senator Mitchell - have all been in contact with their Turkish colleagues to exchange views on the very, very crucial issues that surround Turkey - just as in the past. Be it the Middle East, where Turkey - as Senator Mitchell said - plays a vital role and a role we much appreciate and where great events are unfolding; to relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the problems there with the Taliban and Al Qaeda; to Iraq, where we are working closely with Turkey, not only to defeat a terrorist threat, but also to help this new democracy in the heart of the Middle East stand up on and stay on its feet. We have important issues in the Caucasus and in the Black Sea. We have a complicated relationship, all of us in NATO and in Europe, with Russia. We have work to do throughout the region, but we believe that we have a very effective, and very, very helpful, friendly ally and partner in Turkey.
The political events of our time, however, are being shaped equally by the economic crisis. An audience like this is well aware of both the dimensions of this crisis and how serious it is, and what the major countries - including my own - are doing to respond to it. In the United States in the past few weeks, building on the actions have taken us far, President Obama has launched a huge program to stimulate the economy and to target specific areas for help, for assistance, and for financial stimulus.
At the same time, he’s looking at the financial sector, which - despite considerable infusion of money - is still not providing the liquidity that the American economy needs and that the international economy, the global financial system, needs. This is a problem bigger than the United States, but it’s a problem that began in the United States and it will not be fixed until we fix it in the United States. We’re working hard on it. Despite the experience of previous recessions, and even the Great Depression, this is new territory and it’s going to take some time. But we are very, very confident, and the confidence itself is one of the things we need the most. We have around the world the same skills, the same productive capabilities, that we had a year ago. And there’s no reason, once we get over the specific, technical problems we have, that we cannot soon be back with our economies coming the way they were a year ago.
Its exports were driving the entire economy. Its financial sector, disciplined and beefed up by the crisis in 2001, by the assistance from the IMF, World Bank, and other institutions, was able to respond to the financial crisis far better than most other banking and financial systems- including my country’s. Nonetheless, a global disease such as this economic crisis touches all economies, and that includes Turkey’s. In particular, because you are an export-driven economy, you’ve seen serious losses: a 15 percent drop in exports at the end of last year, followed by a significant additional drop expected in January. Unemployment is way up and it threatens to climb further. There are problems in liquidity in this country as there are in every other, despite the basic health and soundness of your financial system.
Finally, we heard the importance of the Turkish internal economic and legal system being, and remaining, open to international engagement. A survey that the ABFT did, that we are very well aware of at the American Embassy, is a good starting point. They have identified both positive aspects of the economy and some of the problems. The inefficiencies and inequities of the judicial system, the problems with intellectual property rights which are very important in this era where much of the cutting edge international export and trade is based upon knowledge rather than hardware, and the informal economy which places a burden of millions of workers on the legal, very efficient, Turkish manufacturing sector.
In addition to that, it’s very important to keep in mind in this time, be it in America be it in other countries, that governments at least temporarily are taking a much bigger role in the economy and assuming much more authority because they must - not because they want - to as President Obama said. It is very important that governments remember that in the long run not only our free trade and our economic health, but also our political health, and ultimately - if the 1930s are any guide - our physical security depends on the maintenance of those values that have brought us together as far as we are and continue to unite us: democracy, freedom of speech, rule of law, free exchange of information including free media, and the open exchange of views between our countries through diplomatic activity, through joint efforts, through multilateral organizations, and through rapid response to problems and situations such as those we’ve just seen in Gaza, saw in Georgia, saw in Lebanon, and have seen in so many other areas. In that regard, we are extremely pleased with the cooperation that we have received, and are continuing to receive, from the Republic of Turkey.
And I would like to now invite to the podium the individual, my friend, who is one of those most responsible for that, Under Secretary Apakan.
Thank you very much.