TURKEY is set to launch a joint venture with the Brunei government in halal food processing, with an announcement to be made “very soon”, said the Turkish ambassador.
Speaking with The Brunei Times recently, Oguz Ates said the relatively “small’ 
investment would mark the first in a series of projects between the two countries.
“It is only a small part of the possible scope of economic cooperation between the governments, but also private sector companies,” he said.
The envoy added that Turkey is also working with Brunei on a chemical processing project, as part of a joint upstream venture.
“The investment in this project will be much larger and makes use of Brunei’s natural resources, but the announcement will be sometime next year.”
Turkey is the 18th largest economy in the world, with annual growth averaging 3.1 per cent in the past five years.
“This is especially significant because of the global recovery (from the 2008 financial crisis) means that many economies around the world are not growing,” Ates said.
“Foreign investment to Turkey has been increasing, but Turkish investments overseas have also been increasing in the last decade or so. Turkey is concentrating more on emerging markets but Brunei has great potential and there is great interest to invest in Brunei.”
The ambassador added that the Sultanate could be an export hub in the ASEAN region and that trade is key to Brunei’s economic diversification plans.
“Brunei is trying to broaden its activities not just domestically, but because they want to diversify the economy and open up to the rest of the world. For us, Brunei’s aim to become a hub in the region overlaps with Turkey’s interest, because we are a newcomer in this region, and so far we have not been efficient in ASEAN markets.”
The Brunei Times
