Vice-President of the Republic of Türkiye H E Dr. Cevdet Yılmaz shaking hands with Editor-in-Chief of Al-Sharq Jaber Al-Harami.
In an exclusive interview with Al Sharq Newspaper, Vice-President of the Republic of Türkiye, H E Dr. Cevdet Yılmaz discussed key topics concerning Türkiye-Qatar bilateral relations, including strategic cooperation across various sectors, trade and investment dynamics, and the implementation of major joint initiatives such as the Strategic Development Road Project involving Türkiye, Qatar, and the UAE. The Peninsula is publishing the interview simultaneously with Al-Sharq. He also addressed regional issues, particularly the situation in Syria and the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Speaking on the current state and future of Qatari-Turkish investments, Dr. Yılmaz emphasised Türkiye’s commitment to enhancing its strategic partnership with Qatar across political and economic domains. He noted that by the end of 2024, Qatari investments in Türkiye had reached $4.9bn, with key areas including finance, banking, port management, and poultry production.
Between 2003 and 2024, Türkiye attracted approximately $271bn in global foreign direct investment (FDI). As a regional industrial hub with a technologically advanced and diversified economy, Türkiye offers a liberal investment climate and a robust industrial infrastructure. Dr. Yılmaz encouraged Qatari business leaders to further engage in Türkiye, leveraging these strengths for mutual benefit.
He highlighted the complementary nature of the two economies, which not only supports bilateral investment growth but also creates opportunities for joint ventures in third countries. “We are eager to collaborate with Qatar on development projects in Africa and other regions to boost regional trade and economic progress,” he said.
Dr. Yılmaz underlined the strength of Türkiye-Qatar political relations, describing them as a firm foundation for expanding economic, trade, investment, and financial ties. The strategic alignment and mutual trust between the leaderships of both nations create a favourable environment for elevating economic cooperation to match their political partnership.
The bilateral relationship has been institutionalised through mechanisms such as the Turkish-Qatari High Strategic Committee and agreements like the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty, and a Free Trade Agreement expected to be finalised soon.
Economic collaboration has particularly deepened in international trade, FDI, and tourism. Trade volume between Türkiye and Qatar increased fivefold over the past decade. From $1.3bn in 2020, it rose to $2.2bn in 2022, with occasional fluctuations but overall strong momentum.
Since 2002, cumulative FDI from Qatar into Türkiye has reached $3.5bn. As of the end of 2023, Qatar’s FDI stock in Türkiye stood at $4.9bn, highlighting a deepening economic bond.
Tourism is another pillar of bilateral engagement. Qatari visitor numbers to Türkiye rose from 32,000 in 2020 to 92,000 in 2022. While recent figures show a slight moderation, interest remains robust.
Looking ahead, Dr. Yılmaz stressed the need to update and expand agreements on investment protection, taxation, and financial cooperation. He proposed the establishment of a Türkiye-Qatar Joint Investment Cooperation Platform to facilitate strategic projects.
The private sector, he said, will play a central role in this evolution. Strengthening B2B partnerships, encouraging joint ventures, and promoting knowledge exchange can unlock significant opportunities.
He also emphasised the importance of focusing on forward-looking sectors such as green transformation, artificial intelligence, digitalisation, and Islamic finance.
These areas align with both countries’ innovation-driven growth agendas and global sustainability goals.
Türkiye’s strategic location, advanced infrastructure, and access to more than a billion consumers through trade agreements position it as an ideal regional hub for Qatari companies. With nearly 250 Qatari firms already operating in Türkiye, Dr. Yılmaz sees strong potential for additional enterprises to establish regional headquarters or operational bases in the country.
H E the Turkish Vice-President also highlighted the current status of the Strategic Development Road Project between Türkiye, Qatar, and the UAE and scale of investments in the project, and time expected for work to start and be completed.
In order to transfer cargo from India, South Asia and Arabian Gulf countries to the Al Faw Port, which is being built in the South of Iraq, to Türkiye and from there to Europe (it is envisaged that gas and oil pipelines will be included in the future) approximately 1200 km of road and railway is planned to be built from Al-Faw Port to our country. Development Road Project, which will pass through our country, will connect the Gulf to Europe both by rail and road.
Started in early 2022, not construction phase, and expected to completed by 2030, the project is expected to cost nearly $20bn.
Vice-President of the Republic of Türkiye, H E Dr. Cevdet Yılmaz, during an exclusive interview with Editor-in-Chief of Al Sharq newspaper Jaber Al-Harami.
The preliminary design of the Project has been completed and the feasibility report has been completed to a great extent. Our remarks on the feasibility report have been shared with Iraq side. It is expected that the Iraq side will clarify the implementation and financing issues.
Asked about the Qatari investments in Türkiye and certain challenges encountering these investments, notably global economic headwinds that also impact the Turkish economy. Addressing these concerns, Vice-President Dr. Cevdet Yılmaz assured Al Sharq newspaper that Türkiye remains a resilient and attractive destination for foreign investors.
Over the past 21 years, Türkiye has achieved impressive economic growth, averaging 5.3% annually. This consistent performance has elevated its global position from 18th to 12th in terms of purchasing power parity. Despite facing unprecedented financial shocks, Türkiye’s diversified and agile real sector—coupled with decisive and prudent policymaking—has enabled the country to weather crises effectively. Notably, Türkiye rebounded faster than OECD, G20, and EU averages following both the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of economic growth and job creation.
Foreign direct investment has played a crucial role in Türkiye’s development. Between 1973 and 2002, the country attracted just $15bn in FDI. Since then, over $270bn has flowed in, with more than 86,000 foreign companies now operating in Türkiye. A key driver behind this success is a comprehensive reform agenda launched in the early 2000s, aimed at enhancing the investment climate.
These reforms include establishing the Coordination Council for the Improvement of the Investment Environment, enacting a new FDI Law, launching new investment schemes, unifying exchanges under BIST, and introducing critical laws such as the Personal Data Protection Law and Industrial Property Law. Further steps include the Ease of Doing Business Reform Packages, the Green Deal Action Plan, and Türkiye’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
As a result of these measures, Türkiye has significantly improved its global investment climate rankings—rising from 69th to 33rd in the World Bank’s Doing Business Index between 2017 and 2020—underscoring the country’s commitment to fostering a business-friendly environment for all investors.
Despite recent challenges, including global instability, regional developments, and the aftermath of the 2023 earthquake, Türkiye’s Medium-Term Program continues to deliver on its economic targets related to growth, trade, inflation, employment, and fiscal balance. Furthermore, the country successfully exited the FATF grey list and received credit rating upgrades from all three major agencies—Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P Global—in 2024.
Türkiye actively invites Qatari investors to participate in its next wave of economic success. The Investment and Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye (the Office) is the official organisation for promoting Türkiye’s investment opportunities to the global business community and providing assistance to investors before, during, and after their entry into Türkiye.
The Office offers an extensive range of services to investors through a one-stop shop approach, ensuring that they obtain optimal results from their investments in Türkiye. Adhering to the principle of confidentiality, the Office offers services with a private sector approach. For any challenges or operational issues, investors are encouraged to contact the Office, which is equipped to provide timely and effective support. Türkiye is committed to maintaining open, practical communication channels to ensure a favourable and secure investment environment for Qatari partners and other global investors.
Asked how he viewed the prospects of Qatar-Türkiye relations across various fields, the Vice-President said: We evaluate that trade and economic relations between Türkiye and Qatar are multi-dimensional and core issues of trade facilitation, investments and cooperation in the field of contracting in third countries, consumer protection, market surveillance and inspection, technical regulations were already discussed at ministerial level during the 10th session of the Supreme Strategic Committee meeting.
As a matter of fact, we think that we need to expand our vision from just trade of goods to include the services sector in our exchange of opportunities. We are sure that many sectors but especially construction and health tourism sectors provide ample opportunities for the firms of both countries.
The free economic zones are new shining actors in many world economies, and we are of the opinion that the opportunities and privileges offered by free zones in both countries should be carefully examined and shared with each other for better cooperation.
On why Türkiye is not seen joining an economic bloc with the Arab world that matches the depth of their political relations, H E pointed out that Türkiye is already in close cooperation and within negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the third round of the Türkiye-GCC Free Trade Agreement was successfully held in Ankara on April 15-17 2025. This FTA between the GCC and Türkiye would greatly contribute to economic integration and cooperation with other regional Arab countries.
In addition, Türkiye works closely with Arab countries and the Arab League states on many platforms, most notably within the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
To a question about the economic needs required for Syria to recover, and what kind of Turkish assistance is being provided to the emerging Syrian state, he said sanctions imposed on Syria are the primary obstacle to Syria’a recovery. Lifting these sanctions, which were designed against the regime, will open the way for international trade, finance and investment to flow to Syria, thereby contributing to the country’s stability.
Meanwhile, we continue providing support in variety of sectors ranging from education to health through coordination with our all relevant institutions, he underlined.
