Daily Star – Lebanon, Lebanon
June 16 2005
Erdogan arrives in Beirut for Arab forum
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 16, 2005
BEIRUT: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Lebanon
last night to attend the 11th Arab Economic Forum which opens in
Beirut later today. Erdogan was met by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib
Mikati upon his arrival at Beirut International Airport.
Hundreds of Armenians also gathered at the airport for the occasion
to protest Turkey’s failure to recognize claims of genocide.
Last night, Erdogan attended a government reception at the Grand
Serail, where he met with a host of local MPs, ambassadors and
business leaders.
Erdogan is accompanied on this trip by a delegation of Turkish
businessmen who are keen to explore trade opportunities with Arab
governments and investors who will be attending the two-day forum.
Erdogan is expected to meet with President Emile Lahoud and other
Lebanese officials during his short visit.
Prior to his speech today, there will be a special ceremony to honor
late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The reform-minded Erdogan is expected to stress the need for more
economic liberalization in the region during his keynote speech to
the forum today.
Erdogan’s presence at the AEF, the first time Turkey has been invited
to the exclusively Arab event, adds extra interest to this year’s
forum.
A large number of Arab governments are looking closely at economic
reform in Turkey which has transformed the historically unstable
Turkish economy into one of the world’s top performing emerging
markets.
Delegations from governments and businesses across the Arab world have
arrived in Beirut for the forum, which will be dominated by economic
reform in the middle East and examining ways of attracting greater
foreign investment.
Total FDI in the 22 Arab states in 2003 stood at $110 billion, an
improvement over 2002.
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in the United States and
the security measures in the West have induced many Arab investors
to transfer assets to their own countries.
In addition, rising oil prices in the last two have boosted investments
in the Arab region and GDP achieved a good growth in oil-rich Arab
countries.
Speakers at the forum will raise the issue of privatization and
economic liberalization.
They will also highlight positive and negative points in all free
trade agreements with special emphasis in the World Trade Agreement.
Some of the participants at the forum will also call for more Arab
investments in the region, noting that Arab assets in the West exceed
$1 trillion.
Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at $458 billion
in 2004, or twice the size of Saudi Arabia’s GDP.
Yet Turkey’s foreign direct investment is only $2.9 billion a year
and is not enough to reduce unemployment, which stands at 10.5 percent.