UK – Türkiye Real estate investment opportunities

This webinar announced a new cooperation initiative between the IoD London Property and Built Environment Group, the Association of Real Estate Investors of Türkiye (GYODER) and the Institute of Directors (IoD), and Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEiK).

The session was opened by Richard Nelson (Chair of the IoD London Property and Built Environment Group), with a panel of guest speakers, namely:

• Osman Okyay, Chairman, Türkiye-UK Business Council, Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEiK)
• Alistair Elder, National Expert Advisory Group on Trade, Institute of Directors (IoD)
• Mehmet KALYONCU, Chairman, the Association of Real Estate Investors of Türkiye (GYODER)

The session was moderated and facilitated by Ozlem Gökçe (Managing Partner, Corvus Invest), including the Q&A session, with closing remarks by Richard Nelson.

Osman Okyay talked briefly about the impact of Brexit between the UK and Türkiye. Both governments are supporting each other, which has strengthened the relationship between both countries. To support each other, collaborate, encourage trade and investment. There is also a great future in the third markets, mainly in Africa.

Alistair Elder talked about the Institute of Directors, its purpose, vision, and objectives of the Institute itself. The IoD has an international presence, where the IoD and DEiK are focused on shared objectives, namely:

• Developing direct relations between our respective business and investment communities, including Government, trade bodies and Parliament.
• Promote the regular exchange of economic, trade and business information and entrepreneurial experience.
• We commit to helping each other in the development of events, webinars, bilateral groups, sectoral and thematic expertise, and business missions aimed at expanding bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Mehmet Kalyoncu talked about GYODER, the Real Estate Platform of Türkiye.  It produces solutions as per its vision of being the pioneer of the sector, and significant investments are made to achieve institutionalisation across the sector. It serves as the gateway abroad and represents Türkiye in the international arena, it enhances the effectiveness of the Turkish real estate sector in foreign markets. It also aims to set standards within all sub-segments of the sector, contribute to urbanisation intended for a modern and civilised city, and ensure coordination throughout the sector with the advancements that will carry the real estate sector forward.

Richard Nelson talked about the Property and Built Environment sector itself in the UK, where the sector is under intense pressure to modernise and innovate.  London alone has c. 1.1 million small, medium, enterprises (SMEs) where the largest proportion of SMEs (c. 20%) are in property and construction.

Ozlem Gökçe moderated and facilitated the panel discussion and share her knowledge and expertise throughout.

The UK- Türkiye Free Trade Agreement was signed on December 29th, 2020 by Türkiye’s Minister for Trade Ruhsar Pekcan and the British Ambassador to Türkiye, Sir Dominick Chilcott. This agreement will secure preferential tariffs for the c. 7,600 UK businesses that exported goods to Türkiye in 2019 and for the very many Turkish businesses that export to the UK, ensuring the continued tariff-free flow of goods and maintaining vital supply chains in the automotive and manufacturing sectors.

This webinar marks the beginning of a series of events as an outcome of the collaboration initiatives between the IoD London Property and Built Environment Group, the Association of Real Estate Investors of Türkiye (GYODER), the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkiye (DEiK).

Property and the Built Environment are major contributors, not only to London but to overall UK GDP, covering a vast array of industries from development, architecture, engineering, construction, investments, and manufacturing, through to local government with heavy involvement from sectors such as legal and finance. The IoD London Property and Built Environment Group aims to be the centre of excellence for members who are involved in this industry.

This webinar has been recorded, where it can be found here: United Kingdom-Türkiye Real Estate Investment Opportunities Webinarı (10 Haziran 2022).