Erdoğan: Lebanon capable of reaching a $200 billion economy if stability prevails

Erdoğan, chairman of the board of trustees of the İlim Yayma Vakfı, said that Lebanon has the capacity to reach an economy the size of $200 billion if the appropriate conditions of stability and development are in place, in a speech he delivered at the "Lebanese-Turkish Strategic Leadership Dialogue" in Beirut.

The meeting was held under the patronage of the Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade, and was attended by Minister of Economy and Trade Amer Al-Bassat and Minister of Social Affairs Hanine Sayed, alongside businessmen and ambassadors.

Erdoğan said that Lebanon and Syria could witness development similar to the economic growth Turkey achieved over the past twenty years if conditions are in place, and that the stability of neighboring countries, including Greece, Armenia, Lebanon and Syria, serves Turkey's interest and contributes to regional prosperity and peace. He added that his visit aims to reaffirm the deep ties between the two peoples.

He stressed the importance of developing human capital alongside investment in infrastructure, through education and health, pointing to Turkey's progress in these two sectors over 20 years, to its results in the international PISA and TIMSS tests, and to the participation of about one million and 500 thousand students in "Teknofest" competitions last year.

For his part, Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade Amer Al-Bassat said that Turkey's gross domestic product was about $275 billion in 2000 and is approaching two trillion dollars today, and that exports of goods and services rose over the same period from $50 billion to $400 billion. He attributed this to investment in infrastructure, the banking sector, electricity and telecommunications networks, and to supporting companies and opening global markets to them.

Al-Bassat called for facilitating trade, modernizing and implementing the free trade agreement signed between the two countries, and for increasing Turkish companies' investments in Lebanon and establishing partnerships between companies of the two countries in Syria during its economic recovery phase.