AMBASSADOR'S REMARKS AND PUBLIC EVENTS

Remarks By Ambassador Ross Wilson
State Of Maryland, Department of Business and Economic Development Meeting

Ankara, January 29, 2007

AMBASSADOR WILSON:  Merhaba.  Gunaydin.  Hosgeldiniz.  Good morning.  Welcome to all of you, especially to my friends that have come from my home state of Maryland.  Thank you all for accepting our invitation to be here today.  We all talk, and I have talked, and Turkish government officials have talked, about wanting to expand trade and investment ties between the United States and Turkey.  And I’m so pleased that you are here to explore some opportunities with colleagues who have come from Maryland to try to promote opportunities that I think can be beneficial to both our countries.  I also want to welcome Nancy Wallace, Tom Lions, her team that have come from the State of Maryland from the Department of Business and Economic Development there.  Thank you for coming all this way to try to build upon the ties that already exist and explore additional trade and investment opportunities for firms from the state of Maryland and entities in this country. 

The activities that you are engaged in are good for our bilateral relations that interest me.  They are also good for commerce which of course interests the business leaders of both of our countries.  I want to compliment you for your foresight in recognizing the substantial potential that exists in this country.  We talked this morning a little bit about that.  This is a robust economy.  It’s one of the fastest growing large economies in the world.  The story of Turkey’s performance and potential for US investors is not well known.  Coming here puts Maryland ahead, a step ahead of 49 other states.  As a taxpayer of the state of Maryland I’m delighted to see that. 

For our Turkish friends, I want to say that Maryland may seem like a small place compared to other states, but it is a powerhouse in terms of competitiveness, technology and research and development-related investment.  It is fourth among states in the United States for investment and science and technology, and fifth in technology related jobs.  One important partner in Maryland of the Republic of Turkey, of course, is Lockheed Martin with which Turkey will be a partner in developing the Joint Strike Fighter.  Other important hi-tech entities include the NASA Goddard Space Center, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Northrup Grumman, Orbital Sciences, I think there are a number of others.  You will hear from my colleagues who have come from Baltimore about other opportunities shortly.

It is my hope that we can build, and you can build through these meetings today and coming couple of days, some new relationships, identify some opportunities, potential for trade and collaboration again. Thank you all very, very much for being here.  I hope that these discussions are beneficial, and I’m sure that they will be. 

It is also my pleasure to introduce the next speaker.  We are representing the undersecretariat for the defense industries, SSM.  We are very pleased with the support and collaboration and the good relationship that the United States has and that my embassy in particular has with SSM.  It is one of our prime partners here, whether it is working on defense procurements, what the Government of Turkey decides to source for American firms, or a cooperation in developing the defense and industrial base of Turkey which we regard as important given this country’s key role as a 60-year ally of the United States in a complicated part of the world.  Representing SSM today is Mr. Levent Senel. He is the head of the SSM International Cooperation Department, been with SSM for 17 years, and I understand you were promoted to your present position in July.  Please join me in welcoming Levent Senel of SSM.  Thank you.