Turkey, UAE ink $10 billion investment accords

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have signed contracts worth $10 billion, Yeni Shafak newspaper has reported.

"The United Arab Emirates has allocated a 10-billion-dollar fund to invest in Turkey," Chairman of Abu Dhabi Development Holding (ADQ) Mohamed Hassan Al Suwaidi said at a press conference following the signing ceremony.

The contracts were signed between the two countries as part of UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to Turkey, the report added.

Following the one-on-one meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Nahyan attended the signing ceremony of agreements envisaging investment and cooperation in different fields.

Along with the memorandums of understanding that aim to develop bilateral cooperation in trade, energy and environment spheres, the parties signed 10 agreements covering direct investments in Turkey.

It was stressed that the normalization between Turkey and the UAE was accelerated with the signed agreements.

Investment agreements were reached between UAE’s investment fund - Abu Dhabi Development Holding (ADQ) and the Turkey Wealth Fund and the Presidential Investment Office. Initially, a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation was signed between the institutions.

Moreover, ADQ and the Turkey Wealth Fund also signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a technology-focused venture fund to invest in technology companies in Turkey.

The parties also signed an agreement with the Abu Dhabi Port Company covering port and logistics investments. A memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the stock exchanges of the two countries was also signed between the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange and Borsa Istanbul.

A strategic cooperation agreement was signed with the Abu Dhabi Development Holding and the Presidential Investment Office. The agreement covers direct investments and collaborations in energy, petrochemicals, technology, transportation, infrastructure, health, financial services, food and agriculture spheres, including investments in existing and new renewable projects in Turkey.

Addressing the ceremony, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the meeting was very productive and he will pay a visit to Abu Dhabi in December.

Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor to the UAE leader, wrote on his Twitter account that the UAE continues to strengthen its relations with Bin Zayed's visit to Turkey.

“Sheikh Bin Zayed had a historic and positive meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Cooperation and economic partnerships were the main focus of the meeting. The UAE continues to build bridges and strengthen its relations. Welfare and development are the locomotive of our foreign policy as well as our domestic instinct,” he said.

The Turkish-UAE relations had come to a breaking point due to the Qatar, Egypt crisis, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the alleged support of this country to the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey. Diplomatic traffic resumed in relations, which tended to soften with a phone call between the two countries' foreign ministers.

Erdogan received UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the brother of the Crown Prince, on August 18. The phone call between Erdogan and the Crown Prince on August 31 was the highest-level contact in recent years. Nahyan and Erdogan had their last face-to-face meeting in February 2012.