27.04.2025 Erzurum
The President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, attended the special session titled “Türkiye’s Investment Horizon: Opportunities and Future Vision” at the Palandöken Economic Forum.
In his speech here,
TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Last year, our national income broke a
record by reaching 1.3 trillion dollars. Our share of global exports of goods
and services rose to 1.08 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, reaching the
highest levels in history.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
“Türkiye’s Investment Horizon: Opportunities and Future Vision” special
session.
Stating that people
from the global business community participated in the session, Hisarcıklıoğlu
said, “We have recently experienced a lot of turmoil inside and outside, but we
did not let all this darken our horizon. In this first quarter of the 21st
century, except for only 2 years, that is, except for 2 years in the last 25
years, there is a Türkiye whose economy has grown continuously.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said:
“Last year, our
national income broke a record by reaching 1.3 trillion dollars. Our share of
global exports of goods and services rose to 1.08 percent and 1.3 percent,
respectively, reaching the highest levels in history. Within a 4-hour flight
range of Türkiye, there is a population of 1.3 billion, a national income of 28
trillion dollars and an import volume of 9 trillion dollars. In all these
geographies, Türkiye has the best equipped and experienced businesspeople to do
joint business and investment, and to enter the markets of all these countries
together. The US and Europe’s search for alternative supply centers to China is
also an important opportunity for our country. In particular, our geographical
proximity to Europe and our ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions
offer us advantages in meeting the demands from there. Türkiye is one of the
world’s leading countries in terms of the number of products it can produce
competitively and market diversity. It also has the highest product and market
diversity in its region.”
- “We are the main supplier of Europe in many sectors”
Sharing some export
figures, Hisarcıklıoğlu continued as follows:
“The export of
high-tech products in our manufacturing industry was 6 billion dollars 5 years
ago, and last year it reached 10 billion dollars. Our production capability is
extremely diverse. We are Europe’s main supplier in many sectors such as
automotive, white goods, construction materials, iron and steel, ready-to-wear
clothing, and we are Europe’s No. 1 supplier in many other sectors. This is
Türkiye’s richness in product and market diversity, which is visible in foreign
trade data. It is an indicator of the capacity to do business that we have
built in these lands. In fact, it is an indicator of a very important power of
Turkish entrepreneurship. It is a sign of success not only in production but
also in marketing capability. It is clear that there has been an expanding pool
of talent in our country in the last 30 years. The product and market diversity
of the Turkish economy is Türkiye’s strong point. Türkiye is the country that
competitively sells the largest number of products to the largest number of markets.
It is also useful not to miss where our strengths bring the opportunity to
focus.”
Stating that the
private sector has gone beyond being a local actor, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that
Türkiye is the leading country with production and export capacity in the wide
geography between Italy and China, including Russia and Israel.
- “We should be able to show our growth story to the whole
world”
Stating that Türkiye is
the country with the largest production power in the regional geography,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said:
“Our entrepreneurs, who
learned to export by selling goods to brokers, are now established in foreign
markets themselves. The Turkish private sector’s investments abroad have
reached 60 billion dollars in 130 countries. We have investments, constructions,
machinery parks and partnerships in all of our neighboring geography. Of the
world’s 250 largest international contracting companies, 42 are from Türkiye
and we are the second in the world in this context. In tourism, we are among
the top 5 destinations in the world in terms of the number of tourist arrivals.
We are ranked seventh in terms of revenue, and it is up to us to improve and
grow these figures. We must continue with structural reforms to increase our
competitiveness and show our growth story to the whole world.”
Stating that
prioritizing green and digital transformation is important in terms of
increasing global competitiveness, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “When we consider
global developments and the possibility of growing trade wars, we are going
through a highly turbulent process together, but we believe that we will
overcome them. For 15 years, we have an economy that has been growing
uninterruptedly. Imagine what Türkiye has been through politically and
economically for 15 years. Despite those periods, Türkiye has been growing
uninterruptedly for 15 years. We have a resilient and dynamic economy, perhaps
the greatest success of the private sector is its flexibility. We find the
determined stance of the economy management, its emphasis on stability and its
commitment to rational policies promising for the future. As stated in the
Medium Term Program, we consider it very important to support production,
employment and export-led growth, to continue reforms to improve the business
and investment environment, and to prioritize green and digital transformation
in order to increase our global competitiveness.”
- Expressed thanks on social media account
Hisarcıklıoğlu shared
on his social media account after the Forum: “At the Palandöken Economic Forum,
we successfully completed our special session titled “Türkiye’s Investment
Horizon: Opportunities and Future Vision” at the Palandöken Economic Forum.
With our esteemed guests from the USA, Kazakhstan, TRNC, Uzbekistan, Pakistan
and Tajikistan, we discussed the investment opportunities offered by Türkiye,
regional cooperation and our common goals for the future. I would like to thank
Myron Brilliant, Assan Zhakishev, Turgay Deniz, Umid Hoji, Kurrat Ul-Ain and
Nasimjon Anvarov for their valuable contributions and sharing.”