Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The ‘Role of Technological Transformation in Public Procurement: Local and National Production Conference,’ held by Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), was held at the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Conference Hall. Speaking at the opening of the conference, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the right management of public procurement can give much more effective results than billions of liras in incentive policies, “This would be the greatest encouragement for the real sector.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the problems which have been complained about for years like the real estate tax, stamp tax and the share of TRT in the electricity bills have been resolved. He said that the burden removed from the industrialists is about 1bn TRY per annum.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said, pointing out that no brave individuals could be found to produce a domestic car for years, “A call was issued during the General Assembly by the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. We answered his call with, 'If you stand with us, we will do it. We worked diligently with the Minister and found 5 brave parties to take on this project.”

Reporting that “local and national production” mobilization has been enacted in order to reduce the import dependency in industry, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Turkey, in terms of products diversity, ranks 7th in Europe. Looking at the financial value of our industrial production, Turkey’s industrial production volume was 956bn TRY in 2015, increasing by 9% to exceed 1 trillion TRY in 2016. The share of high technology class products in industrial production is 3.3%, while the share of medium-to-high technology group is 25.2%.”

Faruk Özlü, the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, also spoke: “We will win the domestic and national production in the industrial war by utilizing just as our national and local facilities and faculties just as we will succeed in Operation Olive Branch with our military.”

Minister Özlü stated that the public procurement is an important policy instrument that contributes to the country's R&D and innovation work.

Indicating that domestic and national production is a strategic approach and stance, Özlü stated that they aim to focus on medium and high technology products.

Turkish Grand National Assembly Commission of Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Chairman of the Ziya Altunyaldiz, said Turkey can reach its global R&D and innovation goals through production based on local and national production, “I tell everyone, we trust our industrialists and we can supply everything we need from our own industrialists.”

ATO Chairman Gürsel Baran stated that one of Turkish Industrial Strategy Document prepared in accordance with Turkey's 2023 targets is the development of high value added domestic industrial production based on knowledge and technology. Stating that significance domestic production has been stressed during Turkey's Independence War and the Second World War, Baran said, “Our people's self-confidence has been restored thanks to the local and national production in the last 15 years.”

Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO) President Nurettin Özdebir, while noting that Turkey is an outstanding country with its economic performance, said, “Unless it is sustainable, every success is doomed to oblivion. Sustainability is among the most basic needs of Turkey.”

Musa Pireci, the Chairman of the Special Advisory Commission on Domestic Contribution and Commercial Cooperation in Public Procurement, said that their duty is to contribute to the economy and development of the country by expanding the local contribution and commercial business association in the public procurement.