VZCZCXRO3601
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHAK #1499 1640808
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130808Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2558
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2857
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 2028
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC

UNCLAS ANKARA 001499 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
EEB for A/S Sullivan 
USDOC for 4200/ITA/MAC/EUR/OECA 
USDOC for 3150/ITA/USFCS/OIO/CEENIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KIPR KPAO TU
SUBJECT:  Conference Supports Innovation in Turkey 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  An AmCham-organized, Embassy-supported 
conference on "Innovation" highlighted to Turkish business and 
policy leaders how business-friendly policies can promote economic 
development and job creation.  The conference completes one of the 
actions agreed to during the February meeting of the U.S.-Turkey 
Economic Partnership Commission.  The Embassy will help leverage the 
recommendations of the conference by promoting them with Turkish 
policy makers.  The AmCham intends to make this the first of a 
series of annual conferences on business policy issues.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The June 7 conference was organized by the American 
Business Forum in Turkey (ABFT) in Istanbul as an effort to inject 
US-style ideas of how to build a supportive policy and legal 
environment for economic growth into the Turkey's debate on the 
appropriate relationship between business and government.  A series 
of U.S. speakers, including Deputy Secretary of Commerce David 
Sampson and Ambassador Wilson discussed how policies that encourage 
risk-taking, entrepreneurship, and innovation can both bolster 
economic growth in Turkey and contribute to a deeper economic 
relationship with the United States. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  U.S.-based speakers such as Johns Hopkins professor Steve 
Hanke and USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Thomas Mefford joined 
leading Turkish businesspeople and academics in calling for a second 
wave of economic reforms that improved conditions for competition 
and protection of property rights, notably intellectual property 
rights.  They observed that Turkey ranks in the middle of the pack 
in global survey's of business and investment conditions, such as 
those of the World Bank or Heritage Foundation.  Turkey has made 
considerable progress from where it was just five years ago, but 
much more work is necessary to make Turkey competitive with 
countries like Ireland or Singapore -- which were frequently 
mentioned as examples of how appropriate government policy can spur 
business development. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The conference also highlighted thriving Turkish 
companies, like Vestel (an established company that manufactures 
televisions, computers and household appliances) and Airties (a very 
successful Turkish-American start-up that develops and markets 
broadband internet modems and routers), as examples of Turkish 
companies that beat the odds and proved that it was possible for 
Turkish companies to succeed in a competitive global environment. 
Speakers stressed, however, that such companies are the exceptions 
that prove the rule, and that their success needs to become the norm 
if Turkey is to be able to raise income levels to approach European 
averages. 
 
--------- 
FOLLOW-UP 
--------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  The conference, especially the remarks of D/S Sampson and 
the Ambassador, received substantial positive coverage in the 
Turkish press -- a welcome change from the criticism that typifies 
Turkish reporting about the United States.  In order to further 
leverage the ideas that came out of the conference, ABFT (one of the 
two US Chambers of Commerce in Turkey) plans to draft a paper 
summarizing the conference proceedings and making concrete 
recommendations for business and investment-friendly policies that 
should be adopted in Turkey.  The Embassy will assist ABFT in 
disseminating the paper to Turkish officials. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Holding the conference was one of the action items from 
the February meeting of the U.S.-Turkey Economic Partnership 
Commission (EPC).  During the conference, ABFT Chairman Galip Sukaya 
announced that the conference was the first of what will be a series 
of annual events.  Building on lessons learned from this conference, 
including the need to encourage broader support from the local U.S. 
business community and participation by senior Turkish government 
ministers (who cancelled their commitments in the midst of an 
election campaign), will ensure that such events both improve 
conditions for U.S. business and contribute to a more balanced 
understanding of U.S. policies in the wider Turkish community.  The 
Embassy's Public Affairs section support the conference with a $6000 
grant that helped defray an overall budget of approximately 
$80,000. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  More information about the conference is available at 
www.abft.net/conference. 
 
WILSON