As oil-rich nations in the Arab world pick up the pace of modernisation — building new airports, roads and refineries — the region continues to draw interest from Turkish companies, which are winning construction tenders and finding new markets for Turkish goods and services.

“For the Turks, it is important to be heavily involved in big infrastructure projects everywhere from Iraq to Saudi Arabia. The long-term strategy is investment when Syria opens up, which would create a land bridge from Turkey to Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf,” says Steven Cook, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think-tank.

Turkish trade with the region has grown consistently since 2002, according to figures from the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (Ispat). Exports to Saudi Arabia soared from $555m in 2002 to $3.2bn in 2016; exports to the United Arab Emirates have also grown — from $457m in 2002 to $5.4bn in 2016.