Turkey has one of the fastes growing economies in the world.

The GNP of the metropol Istanbul is larger then that of Hungary.

October, 3 2005 the official negotiations for full EU-membership have been commenced.

Since Januari, 1 1996 there is a Customs Union between Turkey and the EU, this means free trade of almost all products. About half of Turkish imports originate from EU countries.

To stimulate foreign investors the corporate tax is marked down to 20% start 2006.

More then 5.500 foreign capital companies (mainly EU) are established in Turkey.

The gross minimum wage is less then € 300 / month.

Turkey’s population is 70 million of which 50% is younger then 25 years.

According to the Dutch University of Leiden there are about 180 million Turkish speaking people (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, etc.). Turkey has linguistic and cultural ties with most of the countries in Central-Asia.

Due to its geographic location and ties in the Balkan, Middle East and Caucasus, Turkey offers an unique gateway to this region.

Turkey is an important geo-strategical ally of the NATO.

Turkey is about as large as Germany and France together and has a significant market for various products/services.