GE President Immelt: Turkey a great place to invest

Dunya - American Turkish Society-ATS presented Corporate Partnership Awards to Dogus Group President Ferit Sahenk and General Electric (GE) President and CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt in its annual gala night.

In his statement to reporters before the gala meal organized by ATS in Waldorf Astoria, one of Manhattans most elegant hotels, Ferit Sahenk stressed that they took such a meaningful award on behalf of Dogus Group and the award was not an award presented to him or Sahenk family. Emphasizing that this success cannot be attributed only to the Group, but it was the success of Turkey and Turkish people at the same time, Sahenk said that the success resulted from the changes having been experienced in Turkey in the last 5-6 years.

Delivering a speech in the gala night as the host of the ceremony, ATS President Murat Koprulu said that lucrative cooperation between Dogus Group and GE formed the model of strong and long-lasting business and economic ties between Turkey and the USA.

SABANCI AND KOC HAD BEEN GIVEN THE AWARD PREVIOUSLY

Reminding that successful Turkish-American business partnerships were celebrated in the annual gala nights of ATS, Koprulu said that partnership between Ford and Koc Holdings was celebrated in previous years and partnership between Citi and Sabanci Holdings Akbank was celebrated last year.

In his speech, GE President Immelt said that Turkey was a very good country for making investment and he went to Turkey for the first time in 2002 and was fascinated by Turkish labour force despite the hard days in the country that time. Immelt said that Turkish labour force was highly productive and education and human quality in Turkey was very high. Expressing that their partnership with Dogus Group is great and dynamic, Immelt said that their partnership was strong and they both learnt and grew with Dogus Group. Immelt noted that Ferit Sahenk was a very good friend.

In his speech after receiving the award, Ferit Sahenk, on the other hand, said that he was very proud and mentioned the importance that GE and Dogus attached to transparency, integrity, innovation and experience.