Turkey and Japan have had relations since the Ottoman times and improved their cooperation in recent years in particular. As Turkey has developed during last decades, Japanese companies have shown growing interest in establishing partnerships and investing funds in this country.
The reason for this is Turkey is not important for its domestic consumption and trade potential only, but also because it has great prospects of becoming a hub of regional trade.
Recently two countries have started to work on a bilateral economic cooperation agreement, which is still being negotiated. It is reported that Japanese companies have been looking forward to the completion of said agreement between two countries.
According to a high ranking official from Japan, one can observe three main reasons behind the interest of the Japanese business community in Turkey.
These are;
- Turkey has a growing population over 83 million people with young people as majority which means high potential for consumption.
- Two countries have reasons originating from historical relations, to have sympathy for each other.
- The third and biggest point is Turkey's geographical position as it has links between European countries and Central Asian countries and Middle East and African countries.
In fact, Turkey has great potential with its domestic market, but it can also function as a gateway for European, African, Central Asian countries, that is, for other countries.
The officials believe the two countries need to strengthen their relations, stressing that Turkey and Japan have unique advantages and that they need to combine these capacities.
Consequently, further progress should be expected if both countries can combine their positive aspects; That is technology and investment potential provided by Japan, combined with Turkey's historical experience and its potential capabilities for production and its geographical advantage.
