| US President Barack Obama’s administration will lend support to İstanbul to help it become an international finance center, according to a joint statement released following a meeting of the Turkey-US Economic Partnership Commission in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (source) | |
| The statement said the US will provide Turkey with information and technical assistance to that end. The sixth meeting of the commission was attended by delegations from both countries led by US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez and Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Selim Yenel. Efforts to make İstanbul an international finance center have accelerated recently with proposals submitted to Parliament to move public banks from the capital of Ankara to İstanbul. Yet the government’s İstanbul Finance Center (İFM) project dates back to 2006. The offer by some members of Parliament to move the headquarters of some Ankara-based public financial institutions to İstanbul was also on the agenda in 2008, but this was postponed due to the global financial crisis. In a bid to make İstanbul a financial center, the government plans to move the headquarters of public banks such as Ziraat, Vakıf and Halkbank and other public financial institutions like the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the Capital Markets Board (SPK) and the Turkish Banks Association (TBB) to İstanbul. Speaking after the meeting on Thursday, Yenel said, “We may reach our goal [to make İstanbul an international finance center] more rapidly if we manage to get more assistance from the United States.” Observers in Turkey said it is a necessity for İstanbul to step into the world of finance as a key hub not only for Turkey but also for the countries in the region. “It is a strategic must. This will be a profitable and useful move not only for Turkey but also other countries. Everyone will emerge as a winner once this process is completed,” professor Zeki Şahin of Ankara-based Çankaya University said in an earlier interview with Today’s Zaman. Source : http://todayszaman.com/news-237539-us-to-support-istanbuls-intl-finance-center-bid.html - March 7, 2011 |
