FDI hunter names top managers to meet with President Erdoğan

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started his five-day trip to the United States on Tuesday, which includes his attendance at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Erdoğan is also expected to meet with either the CEOs or chairpersons of the biggest 25 companies among the top 100 companies, called the Fortune 100, tonight.

Speaking to Daily Sabah, Turkey's foreign direct investment (FDI) hunter Arda Ermut named the companies expected to attend the private meeting with Erdoğan. Ermut, the president of the Prime Ministry's Investment Support and Promotion Agency (ISPAT), said potential U.S. investors will also meet with Erdoğan. "We will tell [investors] to come and be a part of our success," he said. "The energy, informatics, food, finance and health sectors will be on the agenda."

The heads of these companies, who will attend the meeting with Erdoğan, include Marillyn A. Hewson, the board director and CEO of Lockheed Martin, one of the biggest companies in aviation industry; Andrew N. Liveris, the chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical, a leading company in chemical industry; Raymond L. Conner, the chairman and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Michael O'Neill, the chairman of Citibank; Muhtar Kent, the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola; David M. Cote, the chairman and CEO of Honeywell, which offers engineering services and aerospace systems; Patrice Zagame, the president of biotech company Baxalta Intercontinental; Michael F. Mahoney, the chairman and CEO of Boston Scientific; Dennis M. Nally, the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International, a leading professional services network; Bob Leduc, the chairman of Pratt & Whitney, an American aerospace manufacturer; Eduardo C. Leite, the chairman of Baker & McKenzie, a multinational law firm; Greg Brown, the CEO of Motorola; David S. Taylor, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, an American multinational consumer goods company; John Rice, the CEO of GE Global Growth & Operations; Danny Roderick, the chairman and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Company and Dr. Thomas Kennedy, the chairman and CEO of defense company Raytheon.

According to Ermut, Turkey attracted roughly $1.5 billion in direct investment from the U.S. last year with foreign investors provided a total of $16.5 billion last year. The U.S. is Turkey's fifth-largest export market, according to the Economy Ministry, having exported goods and services worth $6.4 billion in 2015 - which also makes Turkey the 33rd-largest supplier to the U.S. market. Turkey's imports from the U.S. were valued at $11.1 billion. The U.S. has been listed as a target country for 2016 by the Economy Ministry as well.

The main topic to be discussed with these 25 top investors, who are influential in the global flow of money, is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade agreement, which is expected to be signed between the U.S. and EU soon. At the meeting, where Erdoğan is expected to highlight the investment environment and potential of Turkey, the possible effects of the TTIP on both the Turkish economy and U.S. companies, which have investments in Turkey, will be discussed. Erdoğan will call on U.S. companies to launch their support for Turkey during the negotiations of the Customs Union with the EU and the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.

At the meeting, where Turkey is organizing a reunion and roundtable targeting the U.S. business community for the first time, Erdoğan and his committee will hear about the plans of U.S. companies regarding Turkey as well as their demands and complaints. Similar to this meeting, Economy Minister Mustafa Elitaş held a meeting in Istanbul last week with the representatives of approximately 20 companies among the 25 top companies, which have already in investments in Turkey or have been planning to invest in Turkey.

"We expect an investment promise of more than $1 billion to result from the roundtable meeting," Omer Cihad Vardan, the chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), told Anadolu Agency (AA).

Cihad said they organized the roundtable at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in collaboration with the Turkish-American Business Council (TAİK) and ISPAT. "We, as the representatives of the business world, always organize various events regarding the president and prime minister's international contacts. However, we preferred a totally different format for the first time. This limited and ultra-high level roundtable format is quite effective in terms of creating an opportunity for mutual communication. At first, we targeted 15 companies from the Fortune 100. Even though we only accepted the attendance of the CEOs and chairmen, the demand was so high that we increased the number of companies to 25," Cihad added.

Following the roundtable meeting at one of the most prestigious venues in Washington, a 300-person gala dinner will be organized at the same place. At this gala where Erdoğan, members of the Turkish business community and American businesspeople investing or planning to invest in Turkey will attend, a presentation regarding the Turkish economy is expected along with presentations by DEİK and ISPAT.

Ermut said they were planning to connect Erdoğan and the leaders of five-to-six companies at the roundtable and gala will be held. "We are planning to bring the companies that reached a certain maturity regarding the investment in Turkey together with our president. The demand is pretty high for the bilateral meetings. We will try to make them happen as long as the program is convenient," Ermut said.

Furthermore, along with Turkey, 53 countries and four international organizations are expected to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. It is also anticipated that Erdoğan will hold many bilateral meetings during the summit. While developments in Syria are expected to be addressed, Erdoğan will reiterate the importance of "the secure zone" and "the no-fly zone."