Kayseri – Arsen Kanokov, President of Kabardino-Balkaria, ended with delight his fairly busy trip to Kayseri, a central Anatolian city.
Accompanied by a large group of people on his trip to Turkey, Kanokov met with Circassians and representatives of Caucasian associations in the city on the last third day of his trip when he was shown around a museum, a youth center, a forest and the Organized Industrial Zone.
Kanokov was first given a tour by Kayseri’s Mayor Mehmet Ozhaseki around the City Museum, which is part of the Fair & Culture Center. Impressed by the architecture of the building and its technological structure, Kanokov was later shown around the Sumerian Youth Center.
After he chatted with students here for a while, he was given a guided tour around the Kiranardi City Forest, which had been afforested by the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality. Kanokov later saw some institutions in the Organized Industrial Zone of Kayseri. "I have seen once more how hard working the Turks are after I saw the factories here," said Kanokov, who joined a dinner here as the guest of Ahmet Hasyuncu, President of the Organized Industrial Zone of Kayseri.
Kanokov said that the volume of trade between Russia and Turkey was $28bn. He then invited the Turkish businessmen to invest in his country, the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. "You, the Turkish businessmen, will enjoy excellent advantages of doing business in my country," said Kanokov.
Kanokov in fact made his invitation to Turkish businessmen to invest in Kabardino-Balkaria on the second day of his trip. On the second day of his trip to Kayseri, Kanokov met with representatives of the Kayseri Chamber of Industry and the Kayseri Chamber of Commerce. Much of the talk between Kanokov and the Turkish representatives of both organizations was centered around the need to satisfy Kabardino-Balkaria’s want of production technologies.
"Kabardino-Balkaria needs new production technologies to improve its economy more, although it has already improved to some degree. With the rapid growing of Russian economy over the last past five or six years, the budget of Kabardino-Balkaria has doubled over the past two and a half years."
The most secure way to obtain new production technologies is to encourage foreign investment, said Kanokov and invited the Turkish businessmen to make investment in his country. "The Administration of Kabardino-Balkaria promises to supply cheap energy, cheap work force, tax deduction, and rebate of tax. The Turkish businessmen can reach the Russian market easily through investing in Kabardino-Balkaria. As such, they can increase their chances of competition," said Kanokov and promised to help himself as the President of Kabardino-Balkaria the Turkish investors. "The administration of Kabardino-Balkaria will give government guarantee for anything the Turkish investors might ask of. We are a Muslim nation, too. You will not feel alienated at all. You will feel as if you are doing business in your home country."
Happy to see that Turkey hosts peacefully both Circassians and Caucasians, Kanokov said that his country hosts the Balkar people who speak Turkish. "This kind of cultural interaction should be widened to cover economic relations," said Kanokov.
Back to the talks on the third day, the Governor of Kayseri, Mevlut Bilici, spoke in similar terms to Kanokov’s when he pointed at the significance of industrialization and education for nationwide development: "Both Kayseri in particular and Turkey in general are well off with a fairly high level of education. We have successful administrators and hardworking industrialists in Kayseri. We will have a continuous progress."
Ozhaseki expressed his belief that Kanokov’s trip yielded good results, and added that he would return Kanokov’s favor by going in May to Nalchik.
Hasyuncu stressed the industrial progress of Kayseri in terms that the Organized Industrial Zone hosted 40,000 workers in 700 factories, which exported products to over 100 countries. Hasyuncu gave Kanokov a vase as a gift, commemorative of his trip to Kayseri. Karnokov and his entourage left Kayseri after the dinner. (Agency Caucasus)
