Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
MEDIA STATEMENT ON THE VISIT BY SOUTH AFRICA'S HONORARY CONSUL IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY TO SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa's relations with Turkey will be significantly strengthened this week by the visit of two high level private sector delegations from Istanbul.
At the invitation of the Department of Foreign Affairs/the South African Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, the newly appointed Honorary Consul of South Africa in Istanbul, Mr Ishak Alaton, will visit Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town from 11 to 15 August. Apart from meeting a wide range of business institutions and businesspersons, he will also meet with the Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry, and with senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Trade and Industry, SATOUR, and Investment South Africa.
Mr Alaton is the chairperson of the board of the major Turkish conglomerate, ALARKO, which is active in the construction, home-building, hospitality and air conditioning industries in Turkey, Russia and Central Asia. He is well known as a political and social commentator who is working for innovative solutions to the Kurdish, Cyprus, Aegean and economic problems which Turkey is attempting to deal with.
Simultaneously a delegation headed by the chairperson of the Turkish chapter of the newly established South Africa/Turkish Business Council, Mr Necdet Colpan, will visit South Africa to meet the South African chapter, headed by Dr Piet Haasbroek, Group Economist of Barlows.
Turkey is an important and growing market for South African exports. South Africa exported some R1,7 billion worth of goods to Turkey in 1997 and imported about R430 million.
As a dynamic and rapidly growing free-market economy which serves as a gateway to its region, Turkey offers many opportunities to South African business. The South African Embassy in Ankara has the facilities and ability to assist business to explore and develop trade and investment relationships.
The e-mail address is saemb@ada.net.tr
Further enquiries: John May, Pretoria, (012) 3510114
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON BEHALF OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY IN ANKARA, TURKEY 10 AUGUST 1998