22.10.2013 San Francisco / USA
As part of the Turkey Investment Week activities in the USA, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Prime Minister Deputy Ali Babacan and a delegation of businessmen visited the tech giants of the Silicon Valley in San Francisco.
After their meetings
in Los Angeles, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Prime Minister Deputy
Ali Babacan and a delegation of businessmen traveled to San Francisco.
The delegation conducted
important meetings with the giant energy and technology companies in Silicon
Valley. Visiting General Electric first, the delegation visited Intel and Cisco
afterwards.
General Electric
officials briefed the visiting businessmen in regards to the company and talked
about a project which they consider an industrial revolution.
General Electric Vice
President Mike Harsh expressed that they are excited to be investing in Turkey,
“Turkey is becoming a center of attraction in the field of software. The work
in question requires talented minds. This behooves us to be closer to Turkey.”
GE’s Turkey, Middle
East and North Africa Information Chief Dr. İbrahim Gökçen stated that GE is
watching the efforts of the Turkish government to be one of the top 10
economies of the world with admiration; having announced that they will invest
900 million USD in Turkey before, he went on to report that they will be
establishing an innovation center in Turkey in 2015 and that they plan to
conduct a part of their exports to the region’s countries out of Turkey.
Ali Babacan stated
that they have started many programs for investors and established a number
technoparks, going on to report that these were tax free environments for
production, save for social security premiums.
Stating that 51 companies
have presented bids for the Fatih Project, Babacan said that every student
would have a computer.
Continuing their
visits in Silicon Valley, the delegation met with the Intel Vice President John
Davies during lunch. The businessmen also met with the Cisco President Gary
Moore.
Babacan and
Hisarcıklıoğlu toured the company with TOBB members and observed the latest
developments in IT.