BIG AWARD TO “İZMİR” THE CITY TO MAKE INVESTMENT

In the competition organized by the Financial Times group, İzmir entered the top ten in the Southern Europe Category and was placed  4th in the ranking of investment promotion strategy carried out by İZKA.

İzmir Development Agency, on behalf of İzmir, applied to the biennial competition “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2010/2011” organized by the Financial Times group, in which cities and regions active in the investment promotion in the European continent participate. Facts and data on 223 cities and 142 regions in Europe were  collected and evaluated under six main categories in the competition: These categories are: economic potential, human resources, cost efficiency, quality of life, infrastructure and business friendly investment environment. Investment promotion strategies of 99 European regions and cities were  evaluated by an independent jury in the competition. Criteria used are as follows:

o   The number of personnel assigned for investment promotion,

o   Initiatives oriented towards drawing investments,

o   Information about the sectors in the city with the investment potential

o   Information about incentives,

o   Information about the infrastructure projects in the city

o   Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the city and future vision of the city

As a result of the competition, İzmir was in the top ten together with very important and brand  Southern European cities such as Barcelona and Rome in the ranking of “Southern European cities” in one of the groups formed upon Europe being divided into four regions as north, south, east and west. A better result for İzmir than that is that it ranked fourth in the category of FDI strategy among the Southern European cities again.

As a consequence of this success, the İZKA expert Zeynep Tansuğ received the award from the Financial Times Director Courtney Fingar in the award ceremony held on 16-19 March in Cannes.

Following the award ceremony held simultaneously with the MİPİM International Real Estate Fair in Cannes, one of the biggest real estate fairs in the world and the biggest one in Europe the projects on İzmir were conveyed to the investors by the İZKA expert. On behalf of İzmir, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality represented the fair held in the same area with Cannes film festival and nearly 18 thousand visitors from some 80 countries participated in the fair.

On behalf of İzmir, İZKA expert Zeynep Tansuğ received the award from Financial Times Director Courtney Finga.