Turkish-British partnership hits a high

In late March, the sun beats down on metre-deep snow.  On slopes above, skiers glide.  At a hotel in the town centre, over 500 top Turkish business people and opinion formers have gathered.

Welcome to the Uludağ Economic Summit in Bursa – a fantastic launch-pad for the UK-Turkey GREAT campaign.

The GREAT campaign is all about deepening business and education links between the UK and Turkey.  In particular we want to:

• Double trade between the UK and Turkey (in both directions) by 2015, from the level in 2009;
• Boost British involvement in major Turkish infrastructure projects, and vice-versa;
• Boost Turkish direct investment in the UK (the UK was the biggest direct investor in Turkey in 2012); and
• Encourage the brightest and best Turkish students to come and study in British universities.

The British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, launched the GREAT campaign at a gala dinner at the Uludağ Summit, along with Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Koç Holding CEO Turgay Durak.  The atmosphere was terrific, as was the (deafening) soundtrack of mostly British rock and pop which followed the launch, eventually drawing many of those present onto the dance-floor – a special kind of co-operation.

Through it all the message was clear:  Britain and Turkey are important partners, and we want to do more together.

You’ll see a lot more events in the GREAT campaign over the coming year.  Watch this space.