15.05.2024 Ankara
Within the scope of the 80th Financial General Assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) to be held in Ankara, the Certificate of Service Honor Plaque Ceremony was held at TOBB Twin Towers with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and Chamber/Exchange Presidents.
Minister of Family and
Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Minister of Labor and Social Security
Vedat Işıkhan, Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak, Minister of
Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat,
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı and AK Party Deputy
Chairman Efkan Ala also attended the program.
TOBB President M. Rifat
Hisarcıklıoğlu said in his speech here that they support the new policies
initiated in the economy and that they welcome the savings package in the
public sector.
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that TOBB has become the service center of the real sector with the efforts and
efforts of the chambers and exchanges. Stating that the Union has turned into
an exemplary institution admired by the world, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that these
have been achieved through unity of hands, heart and mind.
Emphasizing that
President Erdoğan has always shown his support to the Turkish business world,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Under your leadership, many regulations that facilitate
the business and investment environment and reduce the burdens on us have been
implemented. Our dream of Türkiye’s Automobile, which we achieved a historic
success, became a reality under your vision and patronage.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked
President Erdoğan for the humanitarian aid provided by Türkiye to Gaza and said
that the solution-oriented approach also gave great morale to the business
world.
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that
there has been continuous consultation on the solutions and suggestions of the
real sector and steps have been taken to facilitate the business environment,
increase competitiveness and thus accelerate growth. Pointing out that Türkiye
has a 4-year election-free period ahead, Hisarcıklıoğlu made the following
assessment:
“The next 4-year period
without elections is a serious opportunity to realize structural reforms. The
new policies initiated in the economy under your leadership are the right steps
in this direction and we support them. In particular, we see your goal of
ridding our country of the scourge of high inflation as very important. Because
when inflation rises, our competitiveness decreases, we cannot manage costs or
make budgets. In this context, we welcome the savings package in the public
sector announced two days ago. “
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that the process will have certain difficulties, but the goal of becoming a
stronger and more competitive economy will definitely be achieved.
- “We think that our community more than deserves a green
passport”
Stating that there is a
growing problem in access to finance, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that affirmative
action could be made for SMEs and the market could be relieved by excluding
them from credit limitations.
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that a new credit support system could be established for small businesses that
are members of chambers of commerce and industry, and that installment and
limit restrictions on commercial credit cards could be removed.
Pointing out that
expanding the industry and protecting it against earthquake risk is another
important issue, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We cannot find a place for the industry,
especially in OIZs, to grow. This raises land prices. It makes industrial
investments costly and difficult. The area allocated to industry in the total
surface area of many of our competitors is around 3 percent. In our case, it is
far below 1 percent. There is a great appetite for investment, but we cannot
find a location. We are waiting for expansion areas for industry to be produced
from barren, hillside areas that are not suitable for agriculture.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that a new industrial basin should be established on the Central
Anatolia-Eastern Mediterranean line against the risk of earthquakes, and that
with this move, both the urban transformation of Marmara can be accelerated and
space can be opened for new high-tech investments in Marmara.
Emphasizing that the
revitalization of Türkiye-European Union relations with the progress to be
achieved in positive agenda items will also benefit Türkiye, Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that the updating of the Customs Union, green and digital transformation
are the most concrete positive agenda areas.
Hisarcıklıoğlu also
noted the following regarding visa and transit quotas:
“There is one issue
that continues to upset us. We keep the leaders of this whole struggle waiting
in visa queues. Let’s facilitate the foreign contacts of the opinion leaders of
the private sector so that we can pave the way. Therefore, we think that our
chamber and commodity exchange community also deserves a green passport. We
believe that good news will come from you, who always stand by the real
sector.”
- President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan said, “The electric vehicle market has gained a great momentum in the
last year. We see that Far Eastern countries are aggressively entering the
market. After many years, we did not miss the train and the trend this time.”
President Erdoğan
attended the 80th General Assembly of the Union of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) at the Twin Towers.
Emphasizing that today
it is better understood what a strategic move TOGG was, which was brought to
Türkiye despite various sabotage attempts, Erdoğan stated that the electric
vehicle market has gained a great momentum in the last year.
“We see that Far
Eastern countries are aggressively entering the market,” President Erdoğan
said:
“After many years, this
time we did not miss the train and the trend. With our local and national brand
TOGG, we said ‘we are also in the electric vehicle sector’, which is developing
rapidly. As you know, we did not only struggle with financial difficulties at
that time. Rather, we struggled with learned helplessness that was engraved in
minds. They tried very hard to tear down the project in its infancy. They tried
every means to discredit the project by criticizing everything from its factory
to its design. Whatever is being said today about our National Fighter Jet
KAAN, whatever slander is being thrown at our unmanned aerial vehicles and
their manufacturers, whoever is stepping in to undermine the moves that will
take Türkiye to the next level in the economy, we witnessed all of these and
more during the electric vehicle manufacturing process. But we did not pay
attention to any of these. We said, ‘If others can do it, why can’t we?’ We
said, ‘If others can produce it, why can’t we?’ With your efforts, we have
taken our place in electric vehicle technology much earlier than many countries
in the world. From now on, we will continue to work together with you in other
projects of our country.”
- “We will be able to allocate more resources to the real
agenda of our nation”
Erdoğan reminded that
they came together with the members of TOBB after the May 28 elections last
year, and said that they held today’s general assembly following the March 31
Local Administrations Elections.
Stating that the three
elections held one after the other in the last year have exhausted the business
world, President Erdoğan emphasized that 2023 is a very challenging year for
the Turkish economy.
Erdoğan said,
“Unfortunately, our country could not get rid of the election atmosphere. Again
during this period, conflicts erupted in our region, especially the Gaza
crisis, which directly affected our country. It is a fact that the election
agenda alone slowed down the bureaucracy, investments and future plans of our business
world. With the March 31st elections behind us, we have hopefully
entered a four-year election-free period. From now on, we will be able to focus
more on our main issues and allocate more time and resources to the real agenda
of our nation.”
President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan said, “All our public administrations and personnel must comply with
the austerity measures without exception. We are making a perspective that
demands accountability for every penny spent. Thus, we will be able to use the resources
of our country much more efficiently and in priority areas.”
Stating that he had
given instructions to increase the culture of savings and efficiency and that
the economy management was conducting a comprehensive study on this issue,
Erdoğan said, “We are a government that has always paid attention to the
protection of public property in the last 21 years. We proved this sensitivity
by not compromising on fiscal discipline and keeping the average budget deficit
to national income ratio at 2.4 percent. Now we are taking this to the next
level.”
- Erdoğan green lights green passports for chamber and commodity
exchange presidents
During the award
presentation ceremony, President Erdoğan said about the green passport: “These
20 years have been a source of excitement for us. Because of this excitement,
we also discussed the passport issue with our Foreign Minister. Hopefully, if I
am not mistaken, about 365 chamber and commodity exchange presidents will
receive green passports. May it be auspicious; they will have the opportunity
to use the green passport during the time they are in office.”
- Trade Minister Ömer Bolat
Trade Minister Ömer
Bolat said that they are working within the framework of legal legislation on
sectors and products, especially basic food and necessities, where citizens and
honest traders may be victimized and the market balance and commercial flow may
be adversely affected.
Bolat said that as a
result of the right and decisive policies implemented under the leadership of
President Erdoğan, the Turkish economy grew by 5.4 percent in real terms
annually and has maintained uninterrupted growth for the last 14 quarters,
adding that Türkiye closed last year with 4.5 percent growth, thus exceeding
the Medium Term Program (MTP) target.
- “Foreign trade deficit decreased by 30.4 billion dollars
in the last 10 months”
Bolat stated that the
size of the Turkish economy has exceeded the 1 trillion dollar threshold for
the first time in history, reaching 1 trillion 118 billion dollars and per
capita income reached 13,110 dollars.
Noting that they are
working in line with President Erdoğan’s instruction to “export more,” Bolat
said, “To this end, we increased our exports of goods to 255.4 billion dollars
with a 7-fold increase in 21 years. We increased our share in world exports of
goods from 0.49 percent to 1.08 percent. We increased our exports of services
from 14 billion dollars in the last 21 years to a proud figure of 101.7 billion
dollars with a 7-fold increase. Thus, our share in world services exports
increased from 0.89 percent to 1.3 percent.”
Bolat pointed out that
the current account deficit, which was 57 billion dollars in May last year,
decreased by 25.8 billion dollars in March this year to 31.2 billion dollars,
the lowest value of the last 22 months, and that the foreign trade deficit
decreased by 30.4 billion dollars in the last 10 months and fell to 92 billion
dollars in annualized terms with a 22 percent decline.
Following the speeches,
President Erdoğan presented “Honor Certificates of Service” to 58 TOBB members.