Turkish Construction Companies Ready to Take Part in Construction of Dam, Ring-Road around St. Petersburg.

During a meeting of a delegation of heads of Turkish construction firms led by Chairman of the Russian-Turkish Business Council Turgut Gur, Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakolev invited the Turkish companies to take part in projects including the construction of a ring-road around St. Petersburg and a dam complex. 'Unfortunately, the construction of the dam has been delayed for 25 years', he said. 'The European Bank is ready to contribute USD 215 million towards the reconstruction and development, and we're also engaged in talks with other financial institutions on the provision of credit up to USD 200 million.'

'The Turkish side is ready to join these projects, to find international financing sources and, if necessary, to partially finance the construction', Gur announced to journalists. 'International credit could be received by the city administration, but a guarantee must be given by the federal government'.

Turkish construction companies ATA, Renaissance Creation Ltd and Enka constructed the building of the Chief Prosecutor's Office (6 Isaakievskaya Square), and the 4th pavilion of the Lenexpo exhibition complex in St. Petersburg. In November 1995, the St. Petersburg administration signed a protocol with the Business Council of Turkey in Istanbul on the creation of a regional committee within the framework of the Russian-Turkish Business Council.

According to the St. Petersburg administration's International Committee, Turkey took the 38th place among the city's trade partners in 2001 in terms of trade volume. Export in 2001 came to USD 5.71 million (twice as large as in 2000). Import in 2001 came to USD 16.8 million (an increase of 33% on the 2000 figure). If unofficial Turkish trade is taken into account, the volume of Turkish import is several times higher than the export figure. In the total volume of trading with Russia (taking into account transport business, comprising around USD 5 million), Turkey now takes the third place.