ECONOMY AWARDS

MALATYA

30 APRIL 2019

Honourable Governor, Honourable Mayor,

Esteemed Presidents and Representatives of the Business World and of the NGOs,

Esteemed Members of the Press,

At our Economy Awards Programme held by our MÜSİAD Malatya branch, I respectfully greet you all; welcome.

Distinguished Guests,

Although awards are presented as a return for success, they are in truth most often a gift of encouragement towards success.

Each of us sets goals for ourselves, both in our working lives and in our private lives, and when we reach those goals we most certainly see a reward for it.

Even if it is not given by someone else, we most certainly reward ourselves. With a good meal, with a journey or by spending time with the people we love dearly; but most certainly we do.

And the real reason for this is to encourage and to persuade our spirit and our mind so that we may advance towards new successes.

When the award is given by others, you forget all the difficulties you met along the way, you see that the intense efforts you made have found a response and that you have been understood, and you are happy.

Difficulties too can from time to time be encouraging for people; yet the happiness a person feels when he sees that his efforts have found a response is more precious than all of them.

Since it is a matter of the business world, of trade and of economic relations, it is a field in which success and failure — that is, reward and punishment — can be seen in the short term.

As MÜSİAD business people, we have never regarded our main goal as being merely to earn money.

Therefore, to be rewarded holds a wholly different meaning and value for us.

We witness our members and every business person we come into contact with growing through production in line with their own ideals and with the goals of our country, and we witness the successes they have attained on a world scale.

And this, dear friends, is our own award: to see the successful point our business people have reached in global trade and the effort they have made for the development of our country.

On this occasion, I congratulate everyone who will receive an award here today in different categories and wish that their successes may continue and increase.

Distinguished Guests;

The realization of sustainable economic and social development at the national level is directly linked to the elimination of imbalances between regions. And this is possible only through regional development.

Today, local administrations and non-governmental organizations assume important roles in the achievement of local and regional development.

NGOs, by using the advantages they possess for the local and regional development of the field in which they operate, have functions capable of bringing about national development.

As the world’s most widespread and most effective NGO and a strong capital platform, MÜSİAD too has a great duty at this point.

We are aware of our responsibility. With this awareness, while on the one hand we expand our field of activity in the world, on the other we strengthen our organizational network within the country and reach every point of our land.

Whether general or local, we identify all problems on the spot and develop proposals for solutions.

I should like to state in particular that MÜSİAD, unlike other NGOs, makes a great contribution to regional development.

We of course attach the utmost importance to, and hold precious, the effort shown by all our institutions on our country’s road to development.

I should like to touch briefly upon the work that constitutes our difference.

Thanks to its broad organizational network, MÜSİAD reaches micro data directly.

As you know, in regional development it is a great advantage to be able to obtain micro and macro data together.

We are the only NGO able to take micro information directly from the grassroots and to process it; our difference lies at this point.

Therefore we can say with great ease: the role MÜSİAD plays in regional development is at a key point.

In touching upon the subject of regional development, focusing only on those of our provinces that stand out in trade or display high performance would prevent us from making a comprehensive analysis.

Therefore the point on which we must really dwell is the question of how those of our cities whose commercial development and contribution to the national economy are not at the desired level are to be brought to an upward momentum.

Today we are in Malatya, one of the beautiful cities of the East.

When we look at the space Malatya occupies in the Turkish economy, we see that it is one of those of our cities in respect of which we must speak of regional development. For this space is, for Malatya, approximately 0.6 percent, with a total of TRY 11.7 billion.

According to 2018 data, Malatya, the 29th province of Türkiye in terms of exports, realized total exports at the level of USD 339.6 million.

The current performance of the city, which exports to a total of 109 countries, is not sufficient; we must carry it further. For we know that the potential of the city and of the region is high; we must bring this potential to light.

As MÜSİAD we emphasize this in particular in every city we go to: our investors must be courageous, they must realize their new investments without delay.

As for investment regions, our priority should be those regions that possess potential but have not received the necessary attention.

From here I should like to make an open call to our business people: come, bring your investments to life here, come, let us bring out Malatya’s potential together.

As MÜSİAD, I should like to state that we shall offer all the support within our power at this point.

While we support our business people at the local level, we also carry out work so that Türkiye may take a greater share of global trade and so that our business people may open up to the world markets.

We are in warm contact with business people in every region of the world; we work to build a bridge of trade and a bond of friendship between our country and the countries in which we operate.

A few days ago we hosted at our Head Office a crowded delegation composed of Arab business people and investors.

At the meetings, which were productive for both sides, the ground was prepared for important cooperation and investment partnerships.

Again last week we came together with Muslim business people doing business in the United Kingdom; we discussed investment opportunities and exchanged views on increasing trade between our countries.

In the coming period we shall continue these meetings of ours, increasing their scope and their number.

As you know, last week the Coordination Council for the Improvement of the Investment Environment meeting was held under the leadership of our Vice President Mr. Fuat Oktay.

Here we dwelt upon Türkiye’s road map in the field of investments in the new period.

Our country, which has received USD 217 billion of foreign investment in the last 17 years, has in that time shown the success of rising from 61st place to 43rd place.

This success will be one of our greatest motivations in the new period; for if we have achieved this, there is no obstacle before us to climbing higher still.

Türkiye is in fierce competition with its rivals in the world when it comes to attracting investment. Therefore, in this competitive environment, incentive systems and project-based work are of importance. We hope that the work to be carried out in this direction will yield positive results and provide the targeted contribution to our country’s development process.

We share at every opportunity with our economic administration and with the public that, as MÜSİAD, we are always ready to put our shoulder to the wheel on this matter.

Esteemed Guests,

Before I bring my words to a close, I invite you to the opening ceremony of our Head Office building, which we shall hold on 4 May with the honour of our esteemed President’s presence, and to our Ordinary General Assembly.

I thank everyone who contributed and lent support to the organization, and above all MÜSİAD Malatya Branch President Muharrem Poyraz, and I greet you with respect and with affection.

Abdurrahman Kaan

President of MÜSİAD