BRANCH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
29 MARCH 2021
KARADENİZ EREĞLİ
Honourable District Governor,
Honourable Mayors,
Esteemed Members of our Board of Directors,
Esteemed Presidents and Representatives of the Business and Political World, of Non-Governmental Organizations and of our Chambers, Esteemed President and Members of our MÜSİAD Karadeniz Ereğli Branch,
Esteemed Members of the Press,
I respectfully greet you all at the General Assembly of our branch; welcome, you have honoured us with your presence.
Distinguished Guests,
Today we are with you in Karadeniz Ereğli, part of the first region that comes to mind when mining is mentioned in Türkiye. Zonguldak, whose economy rests on mining and on the industry connected to it, is by this characteristic one of the few provinces in which non-agricultural sectors predominate. In Zonguldak, rich coal deposits, iron and steel plants and the supplier industry attached to them are the backbone of the economy.
The growth of Karadeniz Ereğli, its occupying an important place in the national economy and its opening to the outside world became possible with the establishment of the Ereğli Iron and Steel Works in the district. With this characteristic, Ereğli is one of the rare regions of Türkiye where industry and nature live within an intertwined unity, and we can state that, despite its industrial identity, it has lost nothing of its beauty, its aesthetics and its naturalness.
Zonguldak, which in 2020 ranked 27th among Türkiye's largest exporting provinces and 5th within the Black Sea Region in particular, managed in this period of nationwide contraction in exports to raise its exports to 436.8 million with an increase of %8.25. After the province's total export volume fell from USD 400 million to USD 189 million in 2015, it entered a recovery trend and reached its former level as of 2018.
In Zonguldak, which exported goods and services to a total of 108 countries, the first three places were taken by Belgium, Italy and Romania.
When we consider Zonguldak's potential, we see that we must carry this success even higher.
Dear friends, as MÜSİAD we support our fellow travellers with 89 points in Türkiye and 225 contact points in 95 countries around the world. And now, in order to unite them within a strong trade and investment network, our aim is, through a brand-new restructuring and Renewal, to establish models that embrace you far more closely and that are suited to increasing the capital accumulation of MÜSİAD members and to making them a voice both nationwide and in the international arena.
With the employment it provides for 2 million people, this valuable structure works harder every day to be of benefit to the Turkish economy and to our nation, and we have brought it to this point with each and every one of our members.
We do this with our institutional culture, our accumulated knowledge and the strength we draw from our organization. By processing the information we obtain through you from domestic and international regions, we are building an important database. As a result, we present to the business world a picture setting out all the risks, opportunities and current problems.
My dear friends,
Those who know, know. I have not been a Head Office President alone. From the first day I took office until these days on which I shall hand it over, I have always been within my organization and in contact with our members. Not only by travelling through Anatolia, but also by hosting our branches and representative offices in Anatolia at our Head Office, we have made the ties between the organization and the central structure far tighter and deeper.
Despite the difficult conditions of the pandemic, I am happy to be in contact with Anatolia as far as circumstances permit through our branch general assemblies, and thus both to hold our general assemblies and to have conversations with you about the economic, commercial and political agenda of our country. What did we say? MÜSİAD is the most effective and most widespread capital platform in the field, one whose like is rarely encountered. And with this characteristic, in our country, both economically and socially,
it has penetrated down to the capillaries and advances with the strength given by commanding even the finest field knowledge.
Esteemed guests,
As the whole world, we have left 2020 behind as a difficult year. Especially since the beginning of 2018, we had persistently emphasized that the global economic system was under severe strain and that we might have to face a serious commodity crisis.
Yet the flashpoint of this anticipated crisis came from a direction no one could have foreseen: the global pandemic. Unlike the others, this crisis did not have an economic basis, but through its effects it made us question an economic system that had come to a standstill all over the world.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy entered a major shock on both the supply and the demand side; the movement of capital, goods and people came almost to a halt, and in many sectors survival became impossible. From that point on, the global economic system gradually gave way to unitary structures and to the rule of self-sufficiency for countries. While we were expecting sharp paradigm shifts after the pandemic, what we encountered was a statist capitalism, and this model was in fact not at all unfamiliar to us.
For in a logic built upon national economies, the state was bound to make its regulatory role and its weight over the economy felt ever more strongly, and that is indeed what is happening. At the outset of the pandemic, almost every state announced support and incentive packages so that its own nation would be affected by the outbreak with the least possible damage. As long as the pandemic continues, and until it is completely over throughout the world, these measures must remain in place in a graduated manner. Perhaps this is also the new economic model within which the business world will operate.
Today, both in our country and in many countries of the world, the areas of state intervention are steadily widening because of income injustice, of capital lost in the middle-income trap, and of rising prices of goods and services. Despite this, it is possible to say that global capital is once again flowing from developed countries towards developing countries such as ours. However, the important point here is not that this capital flow should come and go with the logic of short-term fund movements
but that it should provide production, investment and employment in our country through direct investments. And realizing this is once again in our own hands.
Distinguished guests,
Owing to the conjuncture, our state organs have of course had to adopt certain temporary policies, and they will continue to do so. The important point here is not to refrain from supporting our state throughout the process we are going through. Among the steps taken to prevent the excessive depreciation of the Turkish lira and the course of high inflation, seeing for example that the Economic Reform Package announced under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is built upon policies grounded in industrialization and national capital accumulation gives us hope.
After all, as MÜSİAD we had for years been emphasizing that the fundamental condition of fighting inflation, of increasing employment and of sustainable growth alike passes through effective production planning and the encouragement of domestic and national industrialization.
Financial markets fall short in explaining the real economy. We have been living through the most vivid example of this for a week. As we leave behind a week of high volatility, we cannot calculate what kind of opening we shall face on Monday. And this pushes us into the listlessness and weariness created by an environment of uncertainty. Yet it is that country's volume of production that determines the velocity of money, the purchasing power of money and the investment power of money alike. There is, however, a subtle point here: in production, no sector must be neglected. That is, production in agriculture and livestock, industrial production and production in the services sector must be synchronized. Not one of the fields of production must ever be sacrificed to another. This is called the Multiple Production Model.
Moreover, production alone is not enough. It is essential that we plan on the basis of a sales-oriented production model. That is, to produce after guaranteeing the market and the sale. Yet this too is not enough. After correctly determining domestic demand, foreign trade planning is required. Otherwise, while speaking of full warehouses, you begin to import. And this adversely affects your terms of trade. Nor is this enough: for production and trade, the continuity and sustainability of investment are required. To this end-to-end system we give the name of the synchronization of production, trade and
investment. Now I see that this triple flow model has become a catchphrase on everyone's lips. We foresaw and analysed many concepts well in advance, and we shaped our Renewal strategy accordingly. Now being ready for the new world system, which many institutions have failed to achieve, has been granted to MÜSİAD.
It would not be wrong to say that the Renormalization process will increase the revival of both the services and the production sectors, and that this will be reflected positively in our national income in 2021. Yet here again the determining factor is the course of the pandemic and the efficiency of the vaccination efforts. For should we face a third wave, in order to compensate for the possible loss of capital we would once again suffer, we must, exactly as China has done, continue production in certain regions without interruption and move to increase our stocks.
This, of course, passes through the logic of establishing secure production bases in which every stage has been thought through. Our fundamental aim in this model, whose details I shall touch upon shortly, is to develop the strategy pursued by China under the conditions of our own country, with even more advanced arrangements and with a logic that gives priority to the human being and to nature.
Increasing the self-sufficiency policies of all our sectors that hold a critical position in domestic and national production, and in particular determining a new strategy for foreign trade, would be the right step. When we first voiced our project of establishing production bases it was not fully understood, and it was even exposed in the left-wing press to ugly and baseless criticisms such as “concentration camps”. Despite this, we swiftly continued our production and investment bases project under the protection of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget. At the point we have now reached, the whole world has come to agree on the same discourse so that production and commercial life are not disrupted in the face of possible crises and recurring epidemics. Not only that: the leaders of the left wing have begun to utter the phrase establishing production bases in their statements. Praise be to God, what more can we say!
Esteemed Guests,
It is not coincidence; it is the ability of the strategic mind and intelligence to read systems and processes. Read once again now the names of the committees within our Renewal process, which we launched two years ago by analysing these days very well and by drawing up a genuinely strategic road map. How the line drawn in 2018 designed a road extending as far as 2023-2030
you will see. We set out this vision years ago, before anyone else saw it. The name and field of work of each of our committees has today become a necessity, and for tomorrow's world a road map.
We said the Committee on New Routes and Approaches in Logistics. Look, today world trade is being directed by logistics companies and by the new routes they draw. We said the Committee on Domestic and National Production Planning; look, today the fundamental starting point of unitary economic structures has become domestic and national production planning. We said the Committee on Energy and Mining Management and Investments; today an entirely different field of economic sharing is taking shape in the name of energy security and new mineral deposits. We said the Committee on Industrial Zones and Campuses; look, today establishing production bases has become an indispensable field of investment throughout the world. We said the Committee on Smart Cities and Urban Economies; after us it became a policy at the level of the Presidency and was written into the 11th Development Plan. indeed the projects launched across the EU for the twinning of cities showed how right and how far-sighted we were on this matter. There are many more examples: Gastro-economy, Rural development, Mergers and acquisitions, Export Matching…
From here I should also like to address to you one more very important matter. Our Renewal process, whose integration with Anatolia was interrupted because of the pandemic, will be swiftly integrated into our branches in the coming term as well.
Esteemed guests,
We are the children of a self-confident and resilient nation. We are a nation that has done whatever was said to be impossible. Indeed, telling those who asked whether a fair could be held during the pandemic that it could, and then holding the very finest one, was once again granted to MÜSİAD.
We held MÜSİAD EXPO 2020, the largest fair held during the pandemic, which drew intense interest from both exhibitors and visitors, with broad participation and completed it successfully. Nearly 15,000 visitors from 102 countries, primarily from Europe, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Africa and the MENA countries, attended the four-day fair. At the fair, which we held under the slogan “Global Trade Is Here”, we hosted 400 purchasing delegations from 50 countries. EXPO 2020, which we held at the İstanbul TÜYAP Fair and Congress Center and which was attended by business people, politicians and academics from every region of the world, enabled our business people to open up to new collaborations, while
it also allowed foreign investors to examine investment opportunities in our country at close hand.
Distinguished Guests,
As you know, we launched our Renewal process in order to prepare in advance for the new world system. Our motto at the outset was “Together”.
We have fulfilled almost all the initiatives we planned and promised within the framework of our Renewal process. Now, with our large-scale projects, we are gathering the fruits of that process.
As MÜSİAD we are developing projects aimed at increasing the contribution made to the national economy and at improving the culture of partnership among our members.
To this end, our 23 committees under the roof of the MÜSİAD ASSEMBLY, which we established during the Renewal process, have begun to gather potential investors and industrialists in Anatolia around specific projects, with projects suited to their own thematic or sectoral fields. These projects have begun to encourage the capital power in Anatolia to invest in such projects or to become partners in them.
For example, with our Investment and Production Bases Project we have created a model that, by building living and production zones in which all their needs are met in the same environment for our small-scale firms which struggle to produce in confined spaces and therefore cannot reach economies of scale, will in time turn them into institutionalized firms ready to move into Organized Industrial Zones. We have completed the first prototype of this model and shall soon begin the construction of the second.. In order to enter the world's top ten economies, and for the epidemics and disasters that may under any circumstances recur, we must establish production bases. By establishing production bases it becomes possible, in the event of an epidemic or a severe disaster, to protect firms, employees and production and to keep them going without a full lockdown.
We have given this model the short name SME INCUBATION CENTERS. This model, in which all the needs of SMEs, from training to accommodation, from social activities to artistic settings, are met within the same living space, aims to create a safe production and living area both for our workers and for our producers and their families.
This project of ours has likewise been one of the works planned from the centre and transferred towards Anatolia. At the same time, this project of ours has been registered as a project under state auspices by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget within the scope of the Coordination Council for the Improvement of the Investment Environment.
Likewise, with our Smart Agricultural Cities Project we have launched an initiative in order to encourage rural development and in this way to support reverse migration and to attain a homogeneous population structure. We presented this to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a model.
With the Smart Agricultural Cities Model, and with its facilities targeting the population crowded into large cities and especially women's and young people's enterprises, we have developed an initiative to encourage rural life and to support rural development.
Today many of our members in Anatolia are carrying out preparatory work in order to implement this initiative in their own regions.
Many more projects like these have been produced by our committees and spread to the grassroots: branding cities in the field of gastro-tourism through gastro-economy and Turkish Culinary Arts; establishing structures such as Caravan Tourism and Field Hospitals through multiple partnerships; creating a secure purchasing platform in the second-hand vehicle market; creating a secure real-estate buying and selling platform; and, in line with the 2023 targets, growing selected SMEs in 20 places and 23 locations to turn them into Turkish and World Brands. This and many projects like it have been the fruits of MÜSİAD's Renewal adventure.
We have created a MÜSİAD Brand in 6 fundamental fields in line with Türkiye's 6 fundamental strategies: MÜSİAD INNOVA ( MÜSİAD YENİLİK), for innovation management and adaptation to the conditions of digital transformation.
MÜSİAD FUTURE (MÜSİAD GELECEK), in order to develop the strategic sectors and business models of the future,
MÜSİAD ACADEMY, in order to turn education into a MÜSİAD school of thought and to give it an institutional identity.
2023 YER-EL (20 YER 23 EL), covering the work directed at our Anatolian firms in order to bring World Brands out of Türkiye by increasing branding and the brand values of companies and to turn our SMEs into large-scale corporate brands; MÜSİAD INVEST (MÜSİAD YATIRIM), in order to turn the credibility advantage of the MÜSİAD Brand in Türkiye's investment strategies, its field and the savings kept under the mattress into mass investments and partnerships and to establish a system of investment funds,
MÜSİAD TIA (MÜSİAD TİCARET ve YATIRIM AJANSLARI), which we designed together with the Presidential Investment Office in order to promote Türkiye as an investment and trade market for direct foreign investors and to operate MÜSİAD's international field presence like a trade and investment system.
As many of you have witnessed, we are continuing our work without interruption and shall continue to do so. We shall carry on developing projects and serving our country, our nation and the lands in which we were born.
As MÜSİAD, while upholding the ideals of our founders and these goals of ours, we also carry on the MÜSİAD tradition.
Our Qard al-Hasan Fund, one of the finest applications of this tradition, becomes a balm for wounds through the goodwill of our members and enables us to strengthen the culture of brotherhood and pass it on to new generations.
Our Qard al-Hasan Fund project, which we brought to life out of a desire to continue an ancient tradition, by transforming the culture of mutual aid and solidarity among our members into an institutional structure, which we created with the thought of facilitating the trade of our merchants, has institutionalized the culture of mutual aid and solidarity.
On the other hand, we also continue the practice of the “Zimem Ledger”, another of our ancient traditions, with the support and contributions of all our branch members, and above all of the head office. Dear Friends,
MÜSİAD is a family, a home, a school. Here we all walk with the pride of sharing the same consciousness and of being soldiers of the same cause, and when the time comes we hand the flag over to the brothers who come after us. This rule is ancient for everyone. This is what makes MÜSİAD unique. For this reason, being present at the General Assembly of our branch makes me exceedingly happy. As I conclude my words here, I hope that the MÜSİAD Karadeniz Ereğli General Assembly will bring blessings and that our branch's contributions to our business world will continue to increase. I wish success to our branch president, to the board of directors, to the MÜSİAD Women Committee and to our brothers and sisters of Young MÜSİAD. I thank the President of our MÜSİAD Local High Board, Mr. Ahmet, and our local relations committee, our professional staff and everyone who has contributed.
I greet you all with respect and affection.
Abdurrahman Kaan
President of MÜSİAD