SCOTS COMPANIES, including two from Fife, will today set off on a trade mission to Turkey hoping to do business with one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Organised by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, the mission will also be seeking to take advantage of Turkey’s strategic location—bridging East and West—to find ways into markets in the Middle East.

Among those firms flying East are Alba Diagnostics, a Glenrothes-based mechanical testing firm, and Chil, a Dunfermline company that produces software for the telecoms sector.

The SCDI said Turkey was a “crucial staging post” for companies wanting to break through into Middle East markets.

International trade manager Jane Gotts said, “Turkey is still a bit of an unknown quantity for many Scottish exporters, but it’s now the world’s seventeenth largest economy and a very exciting market, with a huge and young population with a real entrepreneurial spirit.

“The country is building on the huge potential to be a bridge between Europe and the Middle East, and is now starting to reap the rewards with annual growth averaging 7.3% since 2004.

“As the country moves towards membership of the European Union there is huge investment in infrastructure such as airports, ports and water, and in services such as education and skills, financial services, and ICT, and many of the sectors are represented on the mission.”

The mission, which will be based in Istanbul, will look to capitalise on the country’s strong growth.