President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is in New York for the 73^rd session of the UN General Assembly, delivered a speech at the 9^th Turkiye Investment Conference held at Gotham Hall by the Turkey-U.S. Business Council (TAİK) and the Investment Office of the Presidency.

Speaking at the 9^th Turkiye Investment Conference in New York, President Erdoğan said: "We will continue to strengthen the investment environment without compromising the rules of the free market economy. We will continue to make the necessary legal regulations in order for our country to attract more direct investments and in order for international investors to invest more in our country securely."

"Negative attitude of some circles within the US Administration is significantly eroding the relations with its allies"

Stating that the disagreements with the current US administration on such issues as the FETO, Syria, anti-terror fight, Al-Quds, sanctions and economy test Turkish-American relations, President Erdoğan noted: "Although we have reached a consensus on some issues, there is still a significant distance that we need to cover particularly in terms of the links with the FETO and the PYD/YPG terrorist organization."

"Some circles within the current administration assume that they can resolve our differences through a language of threats, pressures and blackmails. But, this negative attitude is significantly eroding both the relations with its allies and the U.S. position in the world," he added.

Stressing that he is of the belief that this mentality cannot be maintained forever, President Erdoğan underlined that this attitude, which undermines democracy, global stability, international law, and free trade, is not sustainable, and added, "Our strategic partnership, which has survived many crises until today, will overcome this turbulent period, as well."

"Trade wars have no winners"

"The Trump administration's desire to reach its political goals generally by using commercial issues as a means is one of the obstacles to the advancement of our economic cooperation," said President Erdoğan and continued as follows, "The doubling of steel tariffs against our country, sanctions, investigations and certainly the fluctuations in exchange rates are some of the current administration's steps targeting our country. Despite all these, we look, with hope, to the future of our political and commercial relations with the U.S."

Pointing out that they, as Turkiye, have adopted a foreign trade policy, which is in favor of free trade, President Erdoğan underscored that nothing can be achieved with protective policies in a world where the international trade volume of goods has reached 18 trillion dollars.

Highlighting that trade wars have no winners, President Erdoğan said: "Particularly, the trade war among the world's three biggest economies, the US, the European Union (EU) and China, will not only be merely limited to these economies but also will affect everyone. The negative repercussions of it have indeed started to be felt in many regions, notably, in Africa and in emerging countries." (ILKHA)