MÜSİAD Sector Reports Press Launch
(11 February 2025)
Esteemed members of our MÜSİAD,
Representatives of our business world,
Most esteemed members of the press,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
I greet you all with respect, with affection and with reverence.
Welcome to the Launch Meeting of our Sector Reports, published with the contributions of our Sector Boards; you have honoured us with your presence...
Esteemed members of the press, dear MÜSİAD Family,
We, as business people, have been working ceaselessly for years out of a passion to carry our country ever higher economically. Just as we have to this day pursued our work with determination towards the goal of the “Century of Türkiye” pointed to by our esteemed President, God willing we will continue on our way in 2025 as well without slowing down, adding much more on top of it.
As all of us know, MÜSİAD, which has been working and producing without pause for 35 years, has always undertaken productive and pioneering work. The MÜSİAD Family has an outlook that works more each day than the day before, that produces more value and that provides added value for our country.
Therefore, as I begin my remarks, I would like to emphasize once again the following sentence, which I have expressed on various occasions: MÜSİAD is the most productive and most hard-working business organization in our country. In a moment, we will share with you the work that will fully bear out this statement.
Esteemed members of the press,
As in the many fields in which it operates, MÜSİAD has also undertaken important work and achieved important successes in different sectors. And one of the cornerstones of this success is our sector boards, which are of critical importance for us.
Our sector boards, each composed of innovative and visionary business people who are experts in their field, make the most accurate analyses on a sectoral basis, offer solution proposals and develop sustainable solutions to the problems the business world encounters. Our boards, operating in 17 different sectors, act with a perspective suited to the dynamics not only of Türkiye but at the same time of the world economy, guiding our members and contributing to our country's economic growth.
The greatest strength of our sector boards is the highly valued MÜSİAD members who take an active role in the field, who keep their finger on the pulse of the sectors and who work to shape the future of the business world. Our Sector Boards, operating across a broad spectrum from industry to technology, from energy to health, from food to logistics, are at the same time one of our most important building blocks enabling our business world to grow stronger in local and international competition.
The MÜSİAD Sector Boards do not only concern themselves with the present of the business world; they also build the world of the future. Our boards, which prepare our sectors for the technologies and business models of the future in order to gain an advantage in global competition, lead the way to sustainable growth by encouraging R&D and innovation.
At the point we have reached today, it is a great source of happiness for us to see that, thanks to our sector boards, many of our entrepreneurs have opened up to new markets, that our investors have developed the right strategies and that our sectors have become stronger in global competition.
On this occasion, I thank from the heart all our Sector Board Chairmen serving under the roof of MÜSİAD, our Sector Board members and everyone whose labour has gone into this. Thanks to your determination and your work, MÜSİAD will continue to be one of the strongest representatives of our country's economic independence.
Esteemed members of the press,
One of MÜSİAD's most visionary aspects is that, while addressing the different sectors in our country, it both carries out detailed studies and publishes sector reports focused on strengthening the ties between sectors. The infrastructure of these reports rests on many meetings, studies and events.
The MÜSİAD Sector Boards, which in the recent period have taken strategic steps by ensuring strong interaction, gave direction to the business world with 355 sector board meetings in the 2023-2024 period. They held 41 sector board chairmen's meetings and strengthened cooperation by bringing different sectors together.
In addition, in order to integrate with the business world at home and abroad, 60 fair visits, 13 international fair visits and 12 international business trips were organized. Within the scope of economic consultations, 6 Türkiye consultation meetings and 31 regional meetings were held.
While strong relations were established with the public sector, 71 Presidency and Ministry meetings, 69 presentations of reports, opinions and proposals, 196 institutional visits, 52 public institution visits and 236 new member acquisitions were achieved.
The MÜSİAD Sector Boards did not slow down in intra-sector information sharing either… The flow of information was ensured through 74 experience-sharing meetings and 13 summits, workshops and panels. In addition, the ties within the business world were further strengthened with 96 supplier days events and 107 branch visits. In order to increase commercial and social solidarity, MÜSİAD also created a strong ecosystem with 55 Qard al-Hasan memberships and various social activities.
All of this clearly demonstrates how effective a role MÜSİAD plays in the business world and that it is taking strategic steps towards the future.
Today too, we feel great satisfaction in presenting and announcing our reports, which have emerged through the intense effort and labour of our Sector Boards.
A total of 17 sector reports, each of them the product of intense labour, are being published. Today we are experiencing the happiness of sharing our reports with the public. Our reports, which address and analyse with data the year we have left behind, at the same time put forward various projections for the coming year or periods.
Esteemed members of the press,
Esteemed MÜSİAD Family,
While we are at it, I would like to mention a few brief sentences and observations about each of our sector reports, 17 in total. Of course our reports, which have such rich content, cannot be summarized in a few sentences, but I am nonetheless of the opinion that it would be good in terms of emphasizing their importance.
Our Printing, Publishing and Media Sector Board Report is being published under the title “Media and the Media Economy in the Century of Türkiye”. Our report, which sets out the goal of taking a place among the top 5 in the field of international publishing, presents the opportunities and the concrete proposals for the development of the printing, publishing and media sector in our country.
Our Digital Transformation Sector Board Report, titled “Cyber Power: Türkiye's Transformation Strategy in Digital Defence”, draws attention to the fact that the strategic goals of the information technologies sector in Türkiye are closely related to our country's goals of economic development, digital transformation and increasing international competitiveness.
The report “Transformation in Energy: Current Situation, the Türkiye Perspective and the Effect of Climate Change”, prepared by our Energy and Environment Sector Board, sets out and emphasizes our country's 2053 Net Zero Emission target as the most important “Kızılelma” goal in terms of the energy and environment sector.
Our Financial Services, Consultancy and Education Sector Board Report is being published under the title “Entering the Century of Türkiye: An Assessment of Opportunities, Threats and Economic Targets”. In our report we addressed the finance sector, which unlike the other sectors has broad-ranging components, drawing attention in particular to the asset size and the portfolio size of the banking sector.
The agriculture sector, with both its extensive land assets and its high employment rate, continues to be one of our country's fundamental sources of development and income. Our Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sector Board Report, bearing the title “Sustainable Food And Agriculture Approaches”, emphasizes the future of agriculture with the slogan “agriculture is a strategic power, it grows with technology, those who produce together build the future”.
Our Services Sector Board Report, which focuses on gastronomy, growing ever stronger in our country in the new century of our Republic, argues that with more than 100 thousand food and beverage businesses currently in operation and more than 1 million employees, our country has a strong potential in the world ranking.
Our Construction and Building Materials Sector Board Report addresses one of the most current issues of our day: “Access to Housing: Problems and Solution Proposals”... Considering its direct and indirect effects on the other sectors, we know that the share of the construction sector in the Turkish economy has reached high levels such as %30, and we feel the need to place strong emphasis on this.
Our Chemicals, Metal and Mining Sector Board Report, titled “Turkish Mining: Medium-Term Plan, Strategy and Legal Improvement Road Map”, draws attention to the ending of the external dependency of our country, which together with the mineral groups has reached an annual average volume of 200 billion dollars, in these fields.
As all of us know, our country's strategic position on the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route) allows it to assume a central role in transport and trade between Asia and Europe. Our Logistics Sector Board Report, in parallel with this subject, dwells on the logistics sector and on future trends with a focus on sustainability.
One of the most distinctive features of MÜSİAD's sector reports is that they set out a vision. Our Machinery Sector Board Report, bearing the title “The Turkish Machinery Sector in the Digital Age: An Innovative Production Model”, likewise draws a target for us in this vein… It projects that the Turkish machinery sector will reach an export capacity pressing the 60 billion dollar threshold in 2030.
In our day sustainability affects many sectors together. Our Furniture and Durable Goods Sector Board Report, which emphasizes that this must be particularly encouraged and supported, “draws attention to important strategies that will accelerate Türkiye's entry among the significant players in the global environmentally friendly furniture market.
Among the sectors gaining ever greater importance in our country for the future, the automotive sector comes first. Türkiye, today the world's 12th largest vehicle manufacturer, holds a strong position in the production of commercial and passenger vehicles particularly for the European market. Our Automotive and Transport Vehicles Sector Board Report, titled “The Future of the Turkish Automotive Industry”, addresses this subject in depth.
Our Retail Sector Board Report, which set out with the slogan of a strong supply chain and a sustainable future, addresses the subject of “Food Retailing”, whose importance increases with each passing day. And it emphasizes the following: “While the number of people working in organized retail chains approaches 1 million, together with small businesses this figure rises still further.”
Our Health Sector Board Report, stating that our country has become a globally preferred destination in health tourism thanks to advantages such as affordable and high-quality health services, geographical location and modern health infrastructure, brings to the fore the proposals of our stakeholders in this sector.
In the recent period, export successes have been achieved particularly in the fields of unmanned aerial vehicles, missile systems, munitions, land vehicles and aircraft structural parts, and cooperation has been realized with a total of 185 countries. Our report addresses our defence industry, which holds an extremely important and strategic place for our country, under the title “Strategic Products Used in the Defence Industry in Türkiye”.
Its geographical position, its potential to create a difference in products, and its ability to adapt easily to crises with its rapid production and delivery capability offer important opportunities for the development of the Turkish textile sector. Our Textile, Leather and Ready-Made Clothing Sector Board Report, titled “The Future of the Textile Sector: Current Situation Assessment and Future Projections”, draws attention to these subjects.
Finally, our Tourism Sector Board Report emphasizes that our country's tourism sector, by providing direct employment to 1.51 million people, has become an important labour force resource of the national economy.
Esteemed members of the press,
Our sector reports, which I have tried to summarize in a few sentences, also aim to emphasize MÜSİAD's place and importance in the “Century of Türkiye”.
As we carried out this report work, we set out with very serious field experience and accumulated knowledge. MÜSİAD's activities in our country and in the international arena guided us.
MÜSİAD's place in the national economy stands at an extremely important point in terms of all sectors…
In our day %22 of the electricity production in our country is carried out by MÜSİAD members. Again, as MÜSİAD we provide employment to approximately 3 and a half million people. Our goal as MÜSİAD is to raise Türkiye's gross domestic product to 2 trillion dollars.
God willing, with labour and the sweat of our brow, with the power of knowledge and technology, and with an entrepreneurial and visionary approach, we will strengthen our place in the “Century of Türkiye”.
As I conclude my remarks, I thank all the sector boards of our MÜSİAD, our Sector Sector Board Chairman and all our colleagues for their contributions to our sector reports.
I hope that this valuable work prepared by our MÜSİAD Sector Boards will be a means to good things for our country.
I greet you all with my most sincere feelings…
May God protect you.
Mahmut Asmalı
President of MÜSİAD