Rıza Kaan U.

Türk Eximbank is a fully state-owned bank acting as the Turkish government’s major export incentive instrument in Turkey’s sustainable export strategy. As Turkey’s official export credit agency, Türk Eximbank has been mandated to support foreign trade and Turkish contractors/investors operating overseas. Türk Eximbank’s main objectives are promoting Turkey’s exports through diversification of exported goods and services by increasing the share of Turkish exporters in international trade, finding new markets for traditional and non-traditional export goods and providing exporters and overseas contractors with support to increase their competitiveness and to ensure a risk-free environment in international markets. As a means of aiding export development, Türk Eximbank offers specialized financial services through a variety of credit, insurance and guarantee programs. Most developed countries have an export credit agency (ECA) like Türk Eximbank to promote exports. An export financing system should in theory represent a joint effort between official ECAs on the one side, offering insurance and guarantee programs to facilitate exports (in preference to direct credits), and commercial banks on the other side, responsible for financing export operations. This is the way export finance is achieved in many developed countries. Türk Eximbank is different, in that it is one of the few ECAs in the world, which engages in direct lending activities as well as implementing insurance and guarantee schemes within the same institution.