'Turkey expects size of contracting projects abroad to top $15B'

By Yunus Girgin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey this year expects that its total contracting project size to top $15 billion, considering the pandemic, the trade minister said on Tuesday.

"Project value of works undertaken by Turkish contracting companies in 2020 reached $14.4 billion," Ruhsar Pekcan told a meeting organized by the Turkish Contractors Association for the assessment of 2020 in the capital Ankara.

Turkey's contracting sector has conducted 10,525 projects worth $418.7 billion in 128 different countries, Pekcan noted.

"The Commonwealth of the Independent States, the Middle East, and North Africa became our traditional markets. In total, the projects conducted by Turkish firms in these regions made up 84.4% of all our projects," she added.

The level reached in the pandemic environment was a success for the sector, Pekcan said, reminding that 2020 became the year with the largest commercial contraction recorded since World War II.