Turkey

"A key obstacle to more transparent debate and informed decisions by governments and investors [involved in global land transactions] is the lack of science-based information," writes Surendra Shah in Nature magazine

Kuwaiti firms and other Gulf Cooperation Council members are looking to invest in agriculture and food in Turkey, and could sign a number of contacts this year, the head of Turkey's investment agency said on Sunday.

The Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors said that Saudi businesspeople were keen to invest in Turkey, particularly in agriculture. “The Kingdom has a huge program involving billions of riyals for agricultural investment in countries with fertile soil and plentiful water.”

“At this point, Turkey cannot even produce enough food for itself. Why should it even think about renting its own land?” says Abdullah Aysu, a spokesman for the Initiative for the Confederation of Farmers’ Unions

This proposal smacks of the 18th and 19th century capitalizations of the Ottoman government that made Turkey a vassal of European powers. Thanks Mr. Korkmaz. But no thanks.

Turkey has been in talks for the past year with “three big international funds” in order to hire out agricultural lands. One of the deals will be announced very soon, the country's investment promotion agency says.

Qatar has embarked on a food-security programme to make it more self-sufficient and help the communities around its farmland projects in developing countries.

Hassad Food plans to invest all over the world. “Latin America, Asia, you name it,” says Al Hajri, “Where we invest, we make profit. If Qatar is in need of that production, Hassad has the pleasure to sell to Qatar at no special rate.”

Mineks has withdrawn from Vision3, the strategic alliance between three major Gulf banks to bring a $9 billion investment trust to Turkey, particularly in the Southeastern Anatolia Project, which hit the rocks when the banks were affected by the continued spiral of the financial crisis.

Al Salam Bank has announced plans to launch a new $100 million agricultural investment company in Bahrain which will focus on east Asia and Turkey.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey will hold talks to map out a future strategy for cooperation in the agriculture sector on Tuesday. The talks, to be held within the framework of a major initiative launched by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to ensure food security, will be led by Minister of Agriculture Fahd Balghunaim, while Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Mehdi Eker will attend from the Turkish side.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey will hold talks to map out a future strategy for cooperation in the agriculture sector on Tuesday.