Azernews.Az

Foreign investors are taking great interest in the Turkish economy, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening of the Association of Independent Industrialists and Businessmen of Turkey forum on Thursday.

According to Erdogan, the country's economy will grow by three per cent this year.

Egypt's Investment Minister Osama Saleh, Malaysian Minister of Trade and Industry Dato Sri Mustapha Mohamed, the director of the Islamic Development Bank Mohammed Ali and Moroccan Prime Minister Abdullah Benkirane will take part in the forum.

"Some 3000 delegates from 76 countries have taken part in the previous forum in 2010," Erdogan said. "Some 5 000 delegated from 86 countries are participating in the forum this year. This confirms the development of relations between Islamic countries and an even greater development is to be expected in the future. A number of international organisations and companies are currently transferring their head offices to Turkey. Our purpose is the transformation of Istanbul into a financial and trade center not only in the region, but also the whole world,"

He said trade turnover between Islamic countries is at a very low level, but there is potential for trade and investment relations to reach a very high level.

Erdogan noted that there are very strong political, economic and cultural relations between Islamic states.

"Our purpose is to increase trade turnover between OIC countries from $36 billion to $147 billion," he added.