30.04.2024 İstanbul
The President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, attended the Türkiye Century in Exports Summit organized by Albayrak Media Group with the participation of Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat.
In his speech at the
summit, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat and
said, “Under the leadership of our Minister, we closed last year with a double record.
Türkiye's share of global exports of goods and services rose to 1.08 percent
and 1.3 percent in 2023, the highest levels in its history. Moreover, we
achieved this at a time when global goods exports decreased by 5 percent in
2023, despite weakening global demand and the earthquake disasters, which were
described as the disaster of the century.”
Stating that the main
architects of this success are proud of all exporters and entrepreneurs who are
members of the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, the number of which has
reached 140,000, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that as TOBB, they are always with the
exporting members and support them.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
continued as follows: “With the Documents of Origin and Circulation Automation
System (MEDOS), which we have implemented under the coordination of our
Ministry of Trade, we have ensured that the paperwork procedures in foreign
trade are completed in the fastest way. Document approval and visa procedures,
which used to take hours and even days, have been completed in minutes. In this
context, we deliver 5 million documents to our exporter companies in the
fastest way possible, saving time and effort. In order for Turkish trucks to
pass through foreign customs quickly, we undertake the TIR Carnet guarantee on
their behalf. Thus, we provide 25 Billion Euro Guarantee for Turkish exports
and Turkish trucks every year. We issue 94,000 TIR Carnets annually and we rank
3rd in the world in this respect.”
Noting that they
modernized all important land customs gates with the support and coordination
of the Ministry of Trade, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “While the transit volume at the
gates we modernized increased exponentially, waiting times were halved. In
fact, this has turned into a win-win project. Our companies, whose logistics costs
decreased, won. Our state, which does not spend money from its budget on these
works and collects more taxes, won. Moreover, we set an example to the world.
It was selected as the best public-private partnership by the United Nations
and was shown as an example to the whole world. Now we have started exporting
this model. We have made an agreement with the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and
Industry to modernize the customs gates of Islamic countries.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said
that they have launched the Trade Center in Chicago, where they provide a wide
range of services to companies from logistics to sales and marketing, enabling
Turkish companies to enter the US market faster and more effectively.
- “Türkiye has the highest product and market diversity in
its region”
Stating that Türkiye
has become one of the world's leading countries in terms of the number of
products and market diversity that it can produce competitively, TOBB President
said, “It is the country with the highest product and market diversity in its
region. Thanks to the Customs Union arrangement with the European Union,
Türkiye has risen to a higher league. In 1995, Türkiye was able to
competitively produce about 1,000 products, and in 2023, this number has
increased to over 1,600.”
Stating that this
product and market diversity, which appears in foreign trade data, is the
wealth of Türkiye, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “It is an indicator of the capacity to
do business that we have built in these lands. It is an indicator of the power
of Turkish entrepreneurship. The coming period will show this success in
high-tech and high value-added products. Exports of high-tech products in our
manufacturing industry were 6 billion dollars in 2019. In 2023, we reached over
9 billion dollars. In order to increase this, we need ecosystem-led key
technology investments. We have achieved a very good example of this in Togg
under the auspices of our President. We have become one of the countries
developing technology in electric and smart mobility. Today, as we complete the
first year of our mass production, we are proud to bring together approximately
30,000 vehicles with our people. Hopefully, with the support of our Ministry,
we will start exporting to Europe next year. Selling Turkish cars to Germans in
Germany will be a second pride for us. And our high-tech exports will grow
exponentially.”
Emphasizing that
Türkiye is now an export giant, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “This
breakthrough, which started with the late Özal, has made us the most important
industrial giant of the region in the last 20 years. The product and market
diversity of the Turkish economy is Türkiye's strong point. I am proud of you,
my exporter and industrialist brothers and sisters, who are the pride of our
country. I know that you will not leave any country where Turkish products are
not recognized and where our exporters have not set foot. I hope that we will
achieve much greater success together in 2024. I would like to congratulate the
Albayrak Group and Mr. Nuri Albayrak for organizing this beautiful event.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu expressed
his condolences for Gülbeyaz Albayrak, who passed away yesterday, and patience
and condolences to the Albayrak family.
- Trade Minister Ömer Bolat
Trade Minister Ömer
Bolat noted that exporters have a big share in the increase in Türkiye's
foreign trade volume and said that the difficulties encountered in foreign
trade cannot be denied when the difficult global economic conditions are taken
into account.
Explaining that the
efforts of exporters are invaluable in this period when Türkiye is struggling
to build a strong future for itself amid regional and global crises, Bolat said
that geopolitical tensions around the world and uncertainties and risks in the
global economy have not yet disappeared.
Bolat pointed out that
Türkiye has maintained its growth for 14 quarters despite the loss of momentum
in world trade and the global economy, and reminded that the national income
reached 1 trillion 118 billion dollars for the first time in 2023.
Trade Minister Bolat stated
that as the Ministry, they made a total of 33 billion liras of support payments
to exporters in the period 2002-2023 and said, “We are allocating 11.7 billion
liras of support for the export of goods and services in 2023 alone,
approximately doubling it to 21.5 billion liras in 2024 and allocating it to
the use of our exporters. We spend 60 percent of our ministry budget for
exporters. If we need more support for exports, we promise that we will try to
get it from our Ministry of Treasury and Finance.”
- “We must make moves that will make brain drain to our
country attractive”
Mustafa Gültepe,
President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), said that as TİM, they
started the second century with the vision and goal of making Türkiye one of
the top 10 countries in exports.
Emphasizing that
Türkiye's largest export market is the European Union (EU), Gültepe said, “We
make 41 percent of our exports to EU countries. When we take other European
countries into account, the rate rises above 55 percent.”
Underlining that there
is a similar picture for the Near and Middle East, Gültepe said that North
America is in third place.
- “We must increase high-tech production and make these
products world brands”
Nail Olpak, President
of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), said that Türkiye will make its
mark in many areas in the new century with the breakthroughs it has made and
that one of these areas is exports.
Reminding that the
share in global trade has increased to 1 percent, Olpak pointed out that Türkiye
is the production center of the world today and that it looks to the future
advantageously with its infrastructure, transportation and logistics
investments.
Referring to the
transformations in global trade, Olpak stated that these transformations and reflections
should be read well in order to contribute to Türkiye's export vision.