Turkey’s Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a $300-million loan agreement Wednesday.
The cooperation aims to provide businesses with easy access to financing.
The $300 million agreement is of great importance for micro and small enterprises in the manufacturing industry as well as technology-based startups established after 2017 in computer programming, manufacturing and scientific research and development (R&D) sectors.
The deal enables these sectors to overcome the financial difficulties experienced during the pandemic which hit the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the most when compared to large scale companies.
“Turkey’s geographical position allows attracting investment. The country also has young and qualified labor,” KOSGEB head Hasan Basri Kurt said during the signing ceremony of the deal, adding they are glad to co-work with “our Japanese friends to utilize Turkey’s potential and generate added value.”
JICA Turkey head Nobuhiro Ikuro, also commenting on the collaboration, said he is aware of the project’s importance for the SMEs which play a key role in Turkey’s economy.
Besides its economic benefits, “I think it is an important project socially as well, particularly enabling the protection of the jobs of employees who work in such enterprises,” Ikuro said, expressing his hopes that the SMEs will continue to be a driving force within the Turkish economy both during the pandemic and in the post-pandemic period.
