Turkic nations to set up new investment support fund

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) is planning to establish a fund to boost economic integration among the member countries, said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

The deal was finalised last week on the sidelines of the extraordinary summit of the OTS leaders in Turkey’s capital Ankara, Daily Sabah newspaper reported.

“The signing of the founding agreement of the Turkic Investment Fund has been one of the concrete achievements of our summit,” Erdogan said.

Istanbul will be the host city of the fund, he added.

The exact monetary details of the fund were not revealed.

Formerly called the Turkic Council, the OTC is an international organisation that includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. EU states Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have observer status.

The OTS leaders also aimed to encourage multilateral cooperation and coordination mechanism in the fight against natural disasters.

The February 6 tremors leveled thousands of buildings and killed at least 48,448 people across 11 provinces in Turkey.

The two major earthquakes caused about $34.2 billion in direct physical damage, but total reconstruction and recovery costs facing the country could be twice as high, the World Bank said last month.

The earthquakes would shave at least half a percentage point off Turkey’s forecast gross domestic product growth of 3.5 percent to four percent in 2023, said Humberto Lopez, World Bank country director for Turkey.