Fifty-nine Chinese businessmen with billions of dollars in personal wealth are coming to invest in Turkey. The China Entrepreneur Club, headed by Alibaba's boss Jack Ma, will meet Turkish public and private sector representatives for new investments and partnerships.
Having parried the economic coup attempt by the U.S. skillfully, Turkey has been garnering support from around the world. After Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani announced that they would invest $15 billion in Turkey on Wednesday, China, one of Turkey's most important trade partners, has made another supportive move.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement: "We can find new partners" against the U.S., which aspires to exercise economic pressure on Turkey, has found great support internationally. Following Erdoğan's remark, "We are facing toward the Chinese market," the China Entrepreneur Club, which is known as the club of Chinese billionaires, has taken interest in Turkey. The members of the club, which represents a turnover of 5 trillion yuan, are coming to Turkey for investment opportunities and to form new partnerships.
The personal wealth of the members of the China Entrepreneur Club, which includes the richest 59 Chinese businessmen headed by Jack Ma, varies between $15 billion and $30 billion. The members of the club, which provides jobs for 2 million people in China, make billions of dollars of investments in various countries. The club is also closely monitoring Turkey, which is one of the key countries in China's $900 billion One Belt, One Road project. İsmet Öztanık, CEO of Asiability Turkey consulting company, which has offices in Istanbul, London and Beijing, has initiated work for the club's visit to Turkey and said that Chinese businessmen would come to Turkey as soon as preparations are completed. Since the company's global chairman, James Richards, has been working in China since 1974, Öztanık said that founding partner Oliver Shiell has also been conducting training activities in China.
Öztanık noted: "Turkey's leading businessmen and public sector representatives need to be present in the meetings to be held with Chinese businessmen in Turkey because of the principal of reciprocity. We do not expect any incentives, either."
Underlining that they held a meeting in London in July similar to the one they plan to hold in Turkey, Öztanık said: "We brought together 30 Chinese investors and three Turkish businessmen in London. There were British companies, too. These companies delivered presentations to investors. It was a four-day marathon."
Öztanık stressed that the $3.6 billion loan borrowed from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will continue, adding that China needs Turkey more than Turkey needs China since the railway project from Beijing to London has started. "We are working to turn this potential into investments."
Öztanık added that foreign companies, with the Chinese taking the lead, are increasingly renting offices in Turkey, adding that interest in Assembly Ferko Signature, which they are managing, reveals this increase. According to Öztanık, office space can be rented in the building, which also offers open office services with a monthly payment of $150. "This flexibility is favoring both foreign investors and start-ups," Öztanık said.
