Turkey throws doors open to investors

(CNN) -- There was a time when foreign investors couldn't leave Turkey fast enough. It was back in 2001 when the entire economy crumbled.

Stock prices slumped, inflation and interest rates soared, and it seemed the only thing the Lira was good for was wrapping up leftover doner kebabs.

Nearly seven years later the wounds have largely healed, growth has returned and Turkey's becoming a realistic, even alluring, destination for foreign investors with money to spend.

Alpaslan Korkmaz is the man charged with selling Turkey to the world.

Not surprisingly, he's very upbeat.

"Turkey was 30 or 40 years ago an undeveloped economy. It has now become an emerging market and in the following decade, according to me, it is going to be a developed economy", he says.

Alpaslan Korkmaz leads the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey, a government agency linked to the Prime Minister's office.

The agency opened last year to guide a flood of foreign investors.

The trickle started in 2003 when the government made it easier for outsiders to do business in Turkey.

"There are no limitations any more. There are no barriers any more for any investors who want to come to Turkey. He is treated at the same level also legally, which is very important", Korkmaz says.

So far, the reforms have had the desired effect.

In 2002, foreign direct investment was languishing around a long-term average of $1 billion a year.

In 2004, a year after the reforms, it had climbed to $3 billion.

It tripled again to $10 billion in 2005, before doubling to $20 billion in 2006.

This year looks like setting another new record.

In the first four months of this year, $10 billion had already flowed into the country.

"We say to all these investors that they are most welcome because we believe at the end of the day it's a win, win. They come, they invest -- for sure they have to make money -- but on the other side we know they are creating new jobs, bringing new technologies and new visions", Korkmaz says.

They're also potentially bringing Turkey a step closer to achieving its long-held ambition of joining the European Union.

Turkey has a lot of work to do in meeting the EU's standards for membership, but at least on the economic front it's moving in the right direction.

Voters recently returned to power Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has put EU membership and economic reform at the top of his agenda.

While the economy is growing -- around 7 percent each year since the 2001 financial crisis -- the current account deficit remains uncomfortably high.

Turkey's unemployment rate is also on the heavy side, at 8.9 percent, with youth unemployment a worrying 16.7 percent.

Turkish Parliament member Egemen Bagis says, "I see the EU as Turkey's dietician. Turkey has some excess weight to get rid of."

"Twenty-seven countries have lost weight and got fit due to the prescriptions of the EU -- those prescriptions are called the master economic criteria and the Copenhagen criteria. We intend to utilize those prescriptions even if it wants us or not".

What's clear is that foreign investors want Turkey.

And they're likely to want it even more if the country is accepted into the European Union.

For Turkey, that can't come soon enough. E-mail to a friend