Erdogan to tour Gulf eyeing investments

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to embark on a three-day visit to the Gulf countries on Monday, the first since his reelection, with his focus on securing investments in his country.

Erdogan will visit Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar to “further improve the cooperation in the economic and investment areas as well as projects in various sectors,” Turkey’s communications directorate said.

During his visit, Erdogan will meet Saudi’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on Monday.

While returning from the NATO summit in Vilnius last week, Erdogan told reporters that Ankara would like to “further strengthen all kinds of relations” with Gulf countries.

“In our previous meetings, they said: ‘We are ready to make significant investments in Turkey.’ We will finalize this through the visit,” he said.

Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat last week said that the UAE is expected to make investments of up to $30 billion in multiple sectors in the country such as food, logistics, pharmaceuticals, and medical administration.

The upcoming visit is Erdogan’s first since retaining the presidency in a two-round election in May, which saw him extend his rule into a third decade.

The visit comes amid dire economic conditions for Ankara with the Turkish lira’s value plummeting following the elections accompanied by a soaring cost of living. Turkey appointed a former Wall Street executive as the head of the central bank in order to combat rising inflation and economic plight.

Last month, Turkey significantly increased the interest rate to 15 percent, overturning Erdogan’s unorthodox economic model which focused on slashing interest rates. Last week, the country saw a new hike in petrol tax, which led to the prices of fuel increasing significantly.

The Turkish lira has lost close to 80 percent of its value since 2018 and lost more than 28 percent since the start of 2023.