The Bavarian Representative Office in Turkey
About Us
Since the beginning of 2010, the State of Bavaria has been represented in Istanbul with a liaison office of its own. The Representation was officially opened by State Minister Martin Zeil on 17 March 2010 in the presence of an extensive industrial and press delegation. One of the top priorities of the new office will be to help small and medium-sized Bavarian enterprises establish contacts with official Turkish agencies, associations, organisations and companies. But at the same time, the Bavarian representative office in Istanbul will also provide Turkish companies with economic facts and figures about Bavaria as well as initial information on starting up companies in Bavaria.
Turkey in Bavaria
More than 7,600 Turkish firms are already operating in Bavaria, the best-known organisations being the Koç Group, T.C. Ziraat Bankası and Türkiye İş Bankası. But for some time now small and medium-sized Turkish companies have also been showing more interest in opening up branch offices in Bavaria. Companies from traditional sectors – and increasingly also from innovative branches of industry – are setting up branch offices in Bavaria, like for example the Turkish manufacturer of Solimpeks solar modules. At present, there are some 220,200 Turkish citizens living in Bavaria. That means that nearly 10% of the Turks living in Germany have set up home in Bavaria. This encourages economic cooperation between Turkey and the State of Bavaria in many sectors – as reflected by the ten twinning schemes between Turkish and Bavarian towns and communities and the close interaction of universities in both states: there are 77 partnerships between Turkish and Bavarian universities.
Bavaria in Turkey
Of the just under 3,600 German firms operating in Turkey, some 570 come from Bavaria. Companies like Siemens, MAN and TÜV Süd have facilities in Turkey and made a name for themselves there – some of them also with production plants. This makes Turkey – and in particular the Istanbul region – a trading partner of increasing importance for Bavaria. Over the past few years, the volume of trade between Turkey and Bavaria has increased vigorously to its current level of nearly Euro 4 billion (2010). Turkey therefore ranks in 18th place among Bavaria’s trading partners. If internal EU trade is left out of account, it is in the meantime even the sixth most important trading partner of Bavaria.