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Yanay. 'The Turks don't need us'
Photo: Marco Zilberman
Photo: Avi Peretz
Fischer. 'Turkey a key player in regional trade'
Photo: Avi Peretz

VeriFone Israel: We can't give up on Turkey

Head of leading payment technology company's activity outside US can't understand 'how the Israeli government can be at loggerheads over such a foolish issue with its sixth largest export market'

"I don't understand how the government can be at loggerheads over such a foolish issue with its sixth largest export market," Lazy Yanay, president of VeriFone Israel and head of the leading payment technology company's activity outside the US, said Monday in an interview to Calcalist.

 

VeriFone Israel, which serves as the company's global headquarters, does business with Turkey worth nearly $100 million a year.

 

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Yanay clearly realizes that the crisis will not spare his area of activity as well: "The Gazit PC cash-register company, which VeriFone acquired in Israel, won a major bid by Turkey's largest cellular provider, but I assume we won't be able to do business in Turkey if the situation escalates."

 

Furthermore, he warns of the implication of a long-term crisis with Ankara on Israel's entire economy: "The Turks don't need us – we're just 0.3% of their tourist market and no boycott we call will have any influence on them.

 

"We must come to terms with our size and ability to pressure. We're a small player on the global market – I'm not sure that Israel can afford to throw away its $1.5 billion export market in Turkey.

 

"The Israeli government must come to its senses and stop with the ego games which are not called for in today's economic word, and send diplomats to Turkey to deal with the crisis. I'm Israeli and I create jobs in Israel to which I foresee no danger at the moment.

 

"However, over time, if the relationships between Israel and Turkey reach an impasse, Israel employees – and VeriFone's at that – will be harmed."

 

Fischer: Ramifications of crisis will be grave

Meanwhile Monday, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer told the Conference for Economic Regional cooperation that "Turkey's GDP is over $700 million and it is the largest economy in the region and is becoming a large economy in global terms as well.

 

"Turkey is reestablishing its standing as a key player in regional trade vis-à-vis Asian countries, vis-à-vis Europe and in the Middle East as well. Turkey is a valuable trade associate of Israel and the ramifications of the crisis to Israel's trade ties with Turkey will be grave for Israel."

 

The governor addressed the trade volume between Israel and Turkey, which is not particularly large. He noted, however, that trade volumes among Arab countries are not very high and the industrial layout of these countries means that most of their exports are to countries outside the region – mainly energy product exports.

 

Fischer said the ratio of Israel's trade with Turkey to its trade with the large blocs of the US is not expected to change even under full regional peace and trade growth in circumstances of peace cannot be expected to be a significant source of growth for the economies.

 

Fisher stressed that the expansion of trade with Israel's neighboring countries must stem from the private sector's activity and it will boom only under conditions of friendly peace.

 

In regards to the Palestinian economy, Fischer noted that trade relations between Israel and the Palestinians has significant political importance. He maintained that under conditions of peace, the Palestinian economy can grow by bounds and leaps since its current product per capital is very low.

 

Fischer stressed that a rapid growth of the Palestinian economy would have an effect, albeit small, on Israel's economy and will considerably affect the diplomatic ties between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

Click here to read this report in Hebrew

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.06.11, 09:06
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