Affected by the deterioration of the relationship between Turkey and the United States, the Turkish lira fell sharply against the US dollar. On August 17, when asked about the recent $3.8 billion financing cooperation agreement signed by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China （ICBC） with Turkey, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang commented that China has always attached importance to cooperation in the economic, trade and financial fields with Turkey, and supported the enterprises of both sides to negotiate business in accordance with market principles. It also hopes that relevant parties will resolve their differences through dialogues.
On July 26, ICBC provided a $3.6 billion loan program to Turkish energy and transportation sector. Investment projects cover the private sector, public institutions and banks.
On July 31, ICBC was approved to provide $2.7 billion in refinancing to two major infrastructure projects in Turkey, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Northern Marmara Expressway.
In fact, as early as March of this year, ICBC signed a loan financing agreement with Turkey’s VakifBank. ICBC will provide VakifBank with a three-year loan of US$250 million, mainly to support Turkish infrastructure project and import and export trade.
Xu Ke’en, Chairman of ICBC (Turkey) Company, said that in the future, the Bank will continue to strengthen cooperation with Turkish local powerful financial institutions in market development, project construction, trade facilitation, financial markets, risk management, and information technology”.
