Gaziantep Young Businessmen Association (GAGİAD) hosted the delegation headed by Moldovan Ambassador to Ankara Dmitri Croitor. During the visit, where business opportunities were discussed, Ambassador Croitor of Turkish origin invited the Turkish business community to invest in his country and talked about business opportunities and incentives.
GAGİAD Chairman of the Board of Directors Cihan Koçer expressed their satisfaction for hosting the Moldovan delegation in the association and said that Moldova-Turkey relations go back a long way.
Expressing that the common values with the Gagauz Turks lie behind the development of these relations, Koçer said, “This strong structure has been accelerating the mutual trade volume in the last period. Today, there is an export of 500 billion dollars to Moldova. We aim to increase this exponentially as a country. Gaziantep is a very dynamic city with its industry, trade and culture. Today, Gaziantep OIZ is Turkey's largest OIZ and exports to almost every country in the world. Of course, the share of GAGİAD Members in Gaziantep's exports is quite high. Last year, we exceeded the $10 billion target. This year, we want to go beyond that. Despite global conditions, it continues to produce and grow. In this sense, I believe that as Gaziantep, we will continue on our way by expanding our relations with Moldova in the coming period.”
Ambassador Croitor talked about opportunities
Moldova's Ambassador to Ankara Dmitri Croitor said that Moldava has policies that provide very important incentives in almost every sector. Explaining that they host investors from almost every region of the world, Croitor said, “We want more Turkish companies to increase in Moldova. Because there are very strong friendships and past between Turkey and Moldova. Our country gives incentives to come and open a company in Moldova. There are 43 free economic zones in Moldova. We would like to have strong Turkish companies in each of them. We wish to attract Turkish companies to Moldova. I'm talking about our incentives. These are very serious. For example, if you invest 43 million dollars in any of our 1 free zones, you will not pay taxes for 3 years. If you invest $5 million, you will not pay taxes for 5 years.” said.
Stating that Turkey stands by Moldova in the most difficult times, Croitor said:
'We can never forget Turkey's support for us. So much so that Turkey became the first country to recognize the independence of Moldova in 1992. You know, Gagauz people live in the south of Moldova, they speak Turkish. In 1994, the Moldovan Parliament adopted a special law and the Gagauz people were given the status of autonomy in 1994. Turkey also helped us in this. I told you about Moldova's incentives. But if you want to make an investment in the Gagauz region, different incentive models can be developed by contacting them.”
“A country with cheap labor”
DEİK Turkey-Moldova Business Council Executive Board Member Serhan Yıldız explained that they are trying to bring together business world representatives between the two countries through commercial diplomacy. Pointing out that Moldova is a very serious market, Yıldız emphasized that an important city like Gaziantep, which exports to 190 countries, has the potential to make significant investments in Moldova as well.
Yıldız stated that Moldova is a candidate country for the EU and said:
“In this respect, Moldova is actually a door, not a market. So it's a gateway to Europe. Today, Moldova has free trade agreements with the Turkic Republics, Russia and the EU. And you know that this is the opportunity to trade without any problems. We also have strategic cooperation between Turkey and Moldova. Thanks to these collaborations, we can easily bring the money we earn in Moldova to Turkey. Moldova has a very young population. In addition, the kiparity in Turkey and the parity in Moldova are the same. But the minimum wage there is 200 euros. This figure is valid for 2023. The minimum wage, which is estimated at 7500-800 in our country, is not even 4 thousand TL in Moldova. In other words, it is a very cheap country in terms of labor force.”
During the visit, GAGİAD President Cihan Koçer presented Ambassador Croitor and Serhan Yıldız with the certificates of the saplings planted in his name in the GAGİAD Memorial Forest.
Be the first to comment