Speaking at the American-Turkish Council’s annual conference in Washington November 1, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Turkey's economic leadership can be a powerful force for progress across the region.

By MacKenzie C. Babb | Staff Writer | 01 November 2011

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Turkey’s growing influence holds “great potential benefits” for its citizens and regional neighbors and is encouraging the country to take on a greater role as a global economic power.

“Turkey’s economic leadership has the potential to support positive change far beyond Turkey’s own borders,” Clinton said in Washington October 31. “Turkey sends more than a quarter of its exports to nations in the Middle East and North Africa,” she said, adding that Turkish businesses make up one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in Egypt and are also helping to rebuild Iraq.

Clinton said this regional economic integration is critical, as political reforms across the Middle East and North Africa must be joined by economic reforms to succeed.

Speaking at the opening of the American-Turkish Council’s annual conference, the secretary said the benefits of greater integration, as well as Turkey’s capacity to support it, are “substantial.” She added that the country’s growing economic leadership is “key to helping integrate and modernize the economies of the Middle East and North Africa.”

She said the country’s economy has tripled in size during the past decade, thanks in large part to the Turkish people “whose talent, ingenuity and hard work made it possible.” Clinton also credited the Turkish government for making important economic reforms.

“They opened the economy to foreign investment, curbed inflation, sought closer economic integration with Europe and extended development beyond the major cities,” she said.

The secretary also praised the U.S.-Turkey partnership for playing a role in the country’s economic growth, particularly the two countries’ joint security efforts.

“Our work together in NATO has helped keep the shipping lanes of the Mediterranean open and safe. We faced down aggression in the Middle East. We helped bring stability and prosperity to the Balkans and Central Europe, allowing Turkey to establish profitable new trade and investment relationships,” Clinton said. She added that the United States and Turkey are now focusing on expanding counterterrorism cooperation.

“Just as our alliance has contributed to Turkey’s prosperity, that prosperity can in turn strengthen our alliance,” Clinton said. The secretary said that for too long, the U.S.-Turkey economic relationship has lagged behind its security partnership. However, she said, that is beginning to change.

Clinton said in the first eight months of 2011 alone, U.S.-Turkey bilateral trade grew by nearly 50 percent. President Obama and Turkish President Abdullah Gul are working to further intensify this engagement through the joint Economic Partnership Commission, “which brings together experts from across both governments to discuss everything from protecting intellectual property rights to boosting energy trade along the southern corridor to positioning Istanbul as an international financial center.”

She added that both governments are working to involve more women in the process while engaging the private sector and civil society to leverage “new energy, innovation and resources.”

The secretary spoke a day before Turkey’s minister of national defense, Ismet Yilmaz, met with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon.