Saudi Arabia Becomes the Largest Foreign Market for Turkish Contractors

The Turkish Contractors Union reports that Saudi Arabia has become the largest foreign market for contractors from Turkey. According to this report published on the union's website, Turkish contractors have undertaken the development of over 161 new foreign projects worth $11.8 billion in the first nine months of this year, of which $2.3 billion is related to Saudi Arabia. The union's statistics indicate that the surge in Turkish contractors entering Saudi Arabian projects began in 2022 following the normalization of relations between the two countries. Relations between the two countries had been severely strained following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, but have returned to normal over the past two years. Turkey has handed over audio files related to Khashoggi's murder to Western countries. In total, Turkish contractors have entered 402 projects in Saudi Arabia worth approximately $28 billion. The Turkish Contractors Union's statistics show that Turkish contractors have participated in over 12,000 foreign projects worth $516 billion in total. The details of this union's statistics indicate that Iran is not on the list of major foreign projects for Turkish contractors, while one quarter of Turkish contractors' foreign projects are related to the Middle East. In September of this year, the Turkish Contractors Union, along with leading construction companies from Turkey, visited Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi officials. During this meeting, Saudi officials pointed to the existence of $281 billion in new construction projects in the country by 2026 and invited Turkish companies to collaborate. Economic relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia are also highlighted in the report from the Turkish Statistical Institute, which shows that Turkey exported $2.6 billion to Saudi Arabia in the first eight months of this year, matching its total exports to Saudi Arabia for the entire year of 2022 and 2.5 times its total exports to Saudi Arabia in 2021. Turkey's imports from Saudi Arabia in the first eight months of this year were $1.8 billion, compared to $3 billion for the entire last year and about $4 billion in 2021, with the majority of imports being crude oil. Statistics from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism also indicate that 655,000 Saudi tourists entered Turkey in the first eight months of this year, which is 2.5 times the number during the same period in 2021. Earlier this month, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz announced that Turkey aims to attract $10 billion in foreign direct investment for 2024, half of which will come from Saudi companies. Saudi Arabia also deposited $5 billion in the Turkish Central Bank last spring to help the Turkish government maintain the value of its national currency and combat inflation.