Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his speech at the opening of the meeting, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that despite the wars in the region and the slowdown in world economies, Türkiye's economy will close this year with a growth rate of around 5 percent.

Stating that thanks to the dynamic structure of the private sector, they are able to quickly adapt to new conditions that arise, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In this way, we continue to increase industrial production, trade volume, investment expenditures, employment and exports. Of course, there are also problems. We follow these together with our chamber presidents and convey them to the relevant authorities. Especially due to the increase in input costs, we are experiencing a series of disadvantages compared to our competitors, especially in textiles and apparel, where we are the strongest in exports.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the European Union's agreement on a free trade agreement with India and its preparation for a new FTA with South America increased the risks in the EU market.

Stating that the difficulties in access to finance and the rise in interest rates have a negative impact on industrialists, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “There are concerns that the inflation adjustment practice, which is planned to be re-enacted after 18 years, will increase the tax burden of companies with high stocks and investments and working with external resources. Income tax brackets should be updated upwards and the purchasing power of employees should be increased. Unfortunately, our labor legislation is the only area that has not been reformed and is even getting worse.”

- “Investments here should be supported”

Pointing out that Türkiye now has the strictest labor market according to the OECD rigidity index, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In addition to high employment costs, we are almost punishing employment with practices such as compulsory employment of certain professions. We need to change this approach and legislation. There is an earthquake risk in a significant part of our country. In order to reduce the impact of this risk on our industry, we need to identify a new industrial basin on the Central Anatolia-Eastern Mediterranean line.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, who demanded that the legal framework of this work be organized with a master plan, continued his words as follows: “We should prepare infrastructure and logistics connections and support investments to be made here with innovative and long-term financing models. In this way, we can both reduce the risk in Marmara, where our industry is most concentrated, and open up space for high-tech investments in Marmara and bring a new and higher value-added industrial vision to the Marmara Region.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they consider it very important to support production, employment and export-oriented growth in the Medium Term Program and said, “We also find the determined stance of the economy management, the emphasis on stability and the return to rational policies in order to normalize market conditions promising.”

Stating that they see visionary steps such as green industry, green OIZ and techno-entrepreneurship supports as valuable in terms of the transformation of the industry, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Although the conditions we are experiencing are difficult, we believe that we will overcome this period together.”

- Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır

Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır said that the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical crises, global economic recession and trade wars have caused global supply chains to reshape.

Emphasizing that Türkiye has maintained its uninterrupted growth for the last 13 years with industrialists who have not slowed down in their investments despite the storms in the global economy, Kacır made the following assessment: “We are talking about Türkiye, which has reached an export volume of 254 billion dollars, is a pioneer in value-added production with its young and dynamic population, logistics connections, R&D and innovation infrastructure, the shining star of its region and a global production base. At this point, we are number one in the world in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles. Türkiye is one of the countries that can develop and produce its own training aircrafts, helicopters, naval platforms, land vehicles and satellites.”

Kacır reminded that the 100^th anniversary of the Republic was crowned with the Togg, a domestic and national electric car, and noted that the Togg is also a concrete example of new generation industrial policies.

Kacır reminded that they had launched the “Türkiye Green Industry Project” with a budget of 450 million dollars with the World Bank, and said that with the 175 million dollar portion of the project allocated to TÜBİTAK, they would support green production, companies conducting R&D and innovation studies focused on resource efficiency, as well as collaborations to be carried out under the leadership of the private sector.