President Erdogan will spend the week in New York to attend to the inaugural ceremony of U.N. However, he will devote considerable time to meeting heads of US based multi-nationals to attract them to Turkey. While Erdogan’s political meetings are also important, the president emphasized his meetings with businesspeople in a press conference before his departure, expressing hope that political stability and the new economic program made Turkey investible one again.
According to Reuters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Tesla) CEO Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in Turkey, Anadolu Agency posted on social media platform X on Sunday.
Erdogan asked Musk during a meeting at Turkish House, a skyscraper near the United Nations in New York, the Turkish state-owned news agency said. According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk visited Erdogan, spending about a 45 minutes discussing artificial intelligence and a potential Tesla factory.
Musk is also set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday. Musk posted on X that their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology.
Erdogan is in the U.S. to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Tesla in August expressed an interest in building a factory in India that would produce a low-cost electric vehicle (EV). Tesla currently has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state, part of the electric carmaker’s push to expand its global footprint.
Musk said in May that the automaker would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of this year.
Tesla shares are up 123% so far this year and the automaker on Saturday said it had produced its 5 millionth car.
In addition to running Tesla, Musk also bought X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022.
While describing himself as a free speech absolutist, Musk has complied with some demands by the Turkish government to censor content in the country. In other cases, the social media company has objected to orders by the Turkish courts.
Musk’s SpaceX has also been working with Turkey’s space program to launch communications satellites. Turkey is also seeking help to develop batteries for its first homegrown electric vehicle, the Togg.
Erdogan’s office also said he wanted to bring his Starlink service to the country. Meeting with Musk has allowed Erdogan to promote some of his key ambitions, such as the planned launch of the Turksat 6A satellite next June. Erdogan has called that a critical milestone for collecting intelligence that may be used for military purposes.
Erdogan has been encouraging development of a self-sufficient defense industry, including production of unmanned combat aircraft, to support Turkey’s military in a region mired in conflict.
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