Having already stamped its mark throughout most of Asia, one of Singapore's biggest logistics firms is looking to expand further - this time in Turkey. A four-member team from CWT's freight-forwarding arm CWT Globelink spent the last week visiting Istanbul and other cities in the country, where they want to establish a new office and warehouse.

Turkey is not new to the company, which first made inroads there more than 10 years ago through a local agent. But according to CWT Globelink director Thong Jian Jen, there is 'plenty of potential' in a country of 70 million people that is uniquely placed between the continents of Asia and Europe.

Speaking to BT during a three-day Turkey-Asia Pacific Foreign Trade Bridge conference last week, Mr Thong said: 'We want to strengthen our network, as most of our 75 global offices are in Asia. Over the past year, we have seen our business growing between Turkey and our India and China locations, so Turkey can be quite a strategic area for us to manage logistics.'

The networking conference was organised by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists, better known locally as Tukson. Some 460 foreign companies from 22 Asia-Pacific countries - including CWT Globelink and ST Electronics from Singapore - were in town to meet more than 2,000 Turkish business leaders.

The foreign trade bridge programme has proved to be a boon for the Turkish economy, if figures from the inaugural event in 2006 are anything to go by. That year, US$250 million of business was generated through a marathon session of 8,000 meetings. This year the target is US$550 million of transactions.

Among the scores of companies at the Tukson conference was Young Turks International, a leather products firm that was representing both Turkey and Singapore, as it has offices in both countries.

'We are a family company established in Turkey. Opening an office in Singapore was not in our plans at first, but it happened after we visited Singapore as tourists,' said Naci Gen??, manager of the company's Turkey branch.

His counterpart based in Singapore, Selami Gen??, added: 'We sell shoes to Turkish and European companies and produce leather jackets for large companies like Zara and Mango of Spain.' Mr Gen?? is also chairman of the Singapore-Turkey Business Association, which has an office in Singapore's Central Business District.

The Turkish government continues to regard Singapore as an ideal partner to boost links with, particularly in the high-tech goods and logistics areas, Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen told BT. 'We already have a number of Singapore firms in Turkey and we are working very well with them so far,' he said. 'I would encourage more businesses to come and see for themselves what we can offer them.'

Some early birds from Singapore have already done just that.

The Singapore Business Federation (SBF), which also attended the Tukson conference, said it will encourage its 15,000 member companies to consider opportunities in Turkey. 'The culture is suitable here. It's a good mix of East and West. Turkey has strong links with Eastern Europe, and that is a strong advantage,' said SBF assistant director Renee Koh.

This article was first published in The Business Times on 29 June 2008.