Foreign investment made in Turkey this year is around $11.8 billion�

Hurses - Hayati Yazici, Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister, has emphasized that the amount of foreign investment received by Turkey last year was around $19.8 billion and that the amount made this year in Turkey is around $11.8 billion. Stating that the number of foreign companies which was 5,500 in 2002 today exceeds 17,000, Minister Yazici said, "Thanks to its dynamism, Turkey hosts the regional centers of some global companies, such as Coca Cola, JP Morgan, Microsoft and General Electric. Within the framework of this globalizing world, it has been clearly understood that Turkey, as a candidate for the EU membership, links the countries in the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia to the European market, as well as providing access to these markets".