Honourable Minister of Trade Dr. Mehmet Muş,
Esteemed MÜSİAD Branch Presidents and MÜSİAD Members,
Distinguished Members of the Media,
First of all, by achieving USD 225 billion 368 million in exports in 2021,
I would like to begin my remarks with the pride of having reached the highest annual export figure in the history of our Republic.
Above all our esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and our entire economic administration in the person of you, our distinguished Minister,
and all our industrialists, producers and entrepreneurs who contributed to Türkiye's reaching this success — I congratulate them all and respectfully greet you.
Welcome, you have honoured us.
We have gathered here to assess the year 2021, which passed with the difficulties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic,
and to share our projection for 2022, a year that has begun with a positive perception in every respect following the Turkish Lira Promotion Package announced by our esteemed President on 20 December 2021 .
The Turkish Lira, which appreciated rapidly against foreign currencies following the Turkish Lira Promotion Package, considerably reduced the cost-inflation pressure on prices in the domestic market. We believe that this process marks a turning point for the Turkish economy.
The negative expectations for the Turkish economy regarding 2022 turned into positive expectations following the Promotion Package announced on the evening of 20 December. In the Economy survey we conducted with our members, who consist of our producers, industrialists and entrepreneurs, we also saw that everyone is far more hopeful about 2022.
Esteemed participants;
I would like to underline that MÜSİAD, with its 89 branches and members composed of 12,000 businessmen at home, in addition to the contribution it makes to Türkiye's economic and social development,
holds a very significant position as a global player thanks to its organized structure present at 81 contact points abroad. With this great potential of ours, we will support every kind of work that will contribute to Türkiye's development and raise the welfare level of our people.
When we look back at the past two years, we observe that the pandemic, which began in China's city of Wuhan and spread to the whole world, also brought a different transformation to the business world.
The disruption experienced in supply chains rapidly increased the importance of 'near sourcing'. Countries that were able to combine the advantage provided by proximity with digitalized production came clearly to the fore in the competitive race.
Türkiye, which is among the countries that managed this process most successfully,
with its industrial production capacity of wide diversity, the integration of international and domestic players into global supply chains and its advanced technical infrastructure,
continues to be closely watched by the entire world, and especially by Europe.
Over the last 20 years Türkiye has recorded significant progress in many fields, from transportation to energy, from foreign policy to national defence. Thanks especially to the rational investments made in the field of health and to the great transformation achieved, it became one of the countries that managed the Covid-19 outbreak best in the world. During the pandemic period, in which even developed countries experienced great difficulties, Türkiye succeeded in keeping the effect of the outbreak on the economy limited.
Esteemed Participants;
According to the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute, the Turkish economy grew by 7.4 percent in the third quarter of the year. Our export potential has a significant contribution to 92 percent of this growth. The ratio of exports covering imports rose to 83.1 percent. Seen from this perspective, exports will continue to be the driving force of the Turkish economy in 2022 as well.
With the effect of the change in the supply chain as well, a significant shift of orders occurred towards Türkiye from China and other countries of the region.
Türkiye stands out as a bridge, especially for the EU. Our industrialists carry out their exports mainly to Europe, the Middle East and, in part, to Central Asia, Africa and North Africa. Within the scope of our industrial and trade policies, we must focus on rapidly increasing the share of high-technology product groups, particularly in exports.
In order for Türkiye to reach a current account surplus of a sustainable size instead of a current account deficit, a change must take place in the export item both in terms of range and in terms of products.
We experienced the advantage of the near sourcing process during the pandemic. In the period ahead we must now be able to reach far more distant ranges. In this sense there is a very wide scale, from Canada to Japan, from Australia to Brazil. Türkiye's strategy for 2022 should likewise be entirely towards increasing range in this respect...
Esteemed Participants;
Thanks to its competitive and high-quality production power, the technical infrastructure it possesses and its qualified workforce in different sectors, Türkiye is advancing towards a future far brighter than today.
For our exports to record a permanent increase, for us to attain the quality of a country running a foreign trade surplus, and for sustainable growth, we are a candidate for all possible new export markets, from Europe to America, from Asia to Africa.
For this reason, as MÜSİAD we have given weight to commercial diplomacy efforts in the new period. We believe that every new relationship we have established and will establish will be a significant gain on behalf of our business world.
We brought Pakistani businesspeople together with Turkish businesspeople. Indonesian and Turkish businesspeople signed new partnerships within the framework of the B2B meetings held at MÜSİAD.Again here we discussed business and investment opportunities in Czechia, and we hosted a 10-member delegation of businessmen coming from Germany-berlin. With the opening of MÜSİAD Berlin, Turkish and European businesspeople came together under the MÜSİAD roof. Our work focused on commercial diplomacy continues at full speed.
As will be recalled, in 2020, in a period in which the global economy contracted by 3.4 percent, Türkiye had recorded growth of 1.8.
In 2021, while the global economy is estimated to have grown in the 5-6 percent band, double-digit growth is in question for our country. The Turkish economy, which grew by an average of %11.7 in the first 3 quarters, received a contribution of 5.1 points from net exports.
Our exports to the European Union (EU), our most important trading partner, increased by 33 percent and rose to USD 93.1 billion. Moreover, we ran a net foreign trade surplus of USD 7.7 billion against the EU.
Esteemed Participants;
As for the factors that accelerated Türkiye's industrialists in reaching this success in exports, we can summarize them as facing very intense demand after the pandemic, producing alternative solutions without disrupting production and exports, and coming to the fore with the identity of a reliable producer.
As long as our industrialists accelerate their initiatives towards the digital transformation process triggered by the pandemic period and speed up their advanced technology investments, we can easily reach the export figure of USD 250 billion targeted for 2022.
E-commerce-focused activities also occupy an extremely important place on our agenda. It has been clearly seen that the digitalization process triggered by Covid-19 has transformed all industries. The e-commerce sector, which is growing rapidly in the world, holds an important position in all our lives.
In 2020 the world retail e-commerce volume, having increased 15-fold over the last 10 years, was realized at USD 4.2 trillion. As MÜSİAD, we believe that Türkiye has not benefited sufficiently from this huge pie. Yet our country possesses many advantages for e-exports...
Our country's geostrategic position, our young population approaching 30 million, the stable political structure in our region,
the potential to address a market of 1.6 billion people within a four-hour flight distance
and a Gross National Product of USD 28 trillion,
and finally its having industrial and trade cities that export more than USD 1 billion. if we are able to manage advantages such as these correctly,
we believe that as a country we can reach a much different position in e-exports.
In line with this vision, we are working with great enthusiasm to announce to the whole world Türkiye's producer identity, its value-added power and its innovative growth drive.
Esteemed Participants;
In order to provide added value in every respect to our country's domestic and national production power, we have structured our projection for 2022 under seven main headings.
We can summarize these items as follows: the strengthening of MÜSİAD offices in all of the G20 countries and the increase of commercial diplomacy,
the establishment of the Gulf Businessmen Liaison Office,
the organization of at least one MÜSİAD Expo Fair abroad,
the establishment of the MÜSİAD International Arbitration Centre,
the support of micro exports and, in this direction, the strengthening of the infrastructure processes of each of our members such as logistics, human resources and payment systems,
the bringing together of ambassadors and commercial attachés with businesspeople in Anatolia through economic diplomacy activities
and the establishment of the MÜSİAD Trade Office (MTO).
The Green Deal and carbon emissions, for their part, are the most important agenda item of all industrialists... Europe will come to the fore as the fastest region in adapting to the Green Deal.
It will also become considerably difficult for countries that do not act in compliance with the Green Deal to trade with European countries. For this reason, our producers, industrialists and exporters need to be able to make rapid progress in the field of the Green Deal so as not to lose their market shares.
I would like to state, underlining it once again, that our industrialists must seriously put the issue of the climate crisis on the table and take the necessary measures right now, in order to make the share they have gained in the production and export balance sustainable.
As MÜSİAD, in the light of all this information, we are moving forward with national and global targets that will differentiate Türkiye positively in every field.
We hope that the year 2022 will be auspicious for our country, our business world and MÜSİAD. In the new period we will present an innovative road map to our investors, industrialists and entrepreneurs who will differentiate Türkiye positively in every sector, from automotive to food, from health to logistics, from education to construction, and who will carry product and service quality to the highest level.
As MÜSİAD, we will continue to work tirelessly with our 12 thousand members and 60 thousand companies in order to carry our domestic and national production power to a much more advanced level.
As I bring my remarks to a close, I once again thank our Minister of Trade, Dr. Mehmet Muş, above all, as well as our valued MÜSİAD Branch Presidents, MÜSİAD members and esteemed members of the press, for their attendance,
and I offer my respects to you all.
Stay well,