Turkish Embassy moves into Birmingham
The Turkish Embassy has chosen Birmingham to locate its first trade commission outside London.
It has opened an office at 11 Waterloo Street as a base for new chief commercial counsellor Tankut Aydin, who will be responsible for creating trade links between Turkey and the Midlands.
The Birmingham base brings the embassy's number of trade commissioners to four, with a trio in London. A fifth is planned for a new office in Scotland.
Aydin, who has taken up the post following stints in Hong Kong and Northern Cyprus, said: "It's great to have a presence in the UK's largest city outside London, and our doors are open for business. We believe there are real opportunities here.
"Bilateral trade between Turkey and the UK is currently worth around £10bn per annum. Furthermore, in terms of Turkey's total exports the UK ranks second, with a 6.5 per cent share, while Turkey ranks 19th in the UK's total imports, with a 1.35 per cent share."
Prime Minister David Cameron recently pledged to double trade with Turkey over the next five years.
The Turkish Embassy has taken 810 sq ft of office space on a five-year lease at Nurton Developments' 11 Waterloo Street.
The Birmingham office of Colliers International brokered the deal for the tenant. Emel Ahmet, a Turkish Cypriot from the firm's retail team, and Alex Tross, from the office agency team, advised the Embassy.
Theo Holmes of CBRE acted for Nurton.
More than 2,000 UK companies are currently doing business in Turkey, including Rolls-Royce, Vodafone, Tesco and Marks & Spencer.
