Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır said that the history of Turkish industrialization contains stories that were thwarted throughout the 20th century, and that today Türkiye has reached the point where, besides meeting its own needs in many areas, it will make valuable contributions to Europe's security architecture. Minister Kacır, who was in Milan for the 47th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) hosted by Italy, attended the "Business World Meeting" event organized by the Italy branch of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD).
Türkiye's Ambassador to Rome Elif Çomoğlu Ülgen, Türkiye's Consul General in Milan Mehmet Özöktem, MÜSİAD 2nd Term President Ali Bayramoğlu, MÜSİAD Vice President Muhammed Selim Başdemir, MÜSİAD Head of International Organization Selim Sar and a large number of business people doing business between Türkiye and Italy were present at the event.
At the program, which began with a recitation of the Holy Qur'an and videos introducing MÜSİAD, host MÜSİAD Italy Branch President Gökhan Eller thanked Minister Kacır in his opening speech for his participation.
Speaking at the event, Minister of Industry and Technology Kacır expressed his great pleasure at attending this event organized by MÜSİAD Italy.
Stating that they have made a tremendous leap in the field of industry and technology under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister Kacır said:
"We have raised Türkiye's share in global industrial added value twofold. We increased our share of world trade from the level of five per thousand to 1.1 percent. Twenty-three years ago there were 2 technoparks in Türkiye. In these technoparks, 56 firms were carrying out research, development and innovation work. Now nearly 11,500 firms are doing research and development in 106 technoparks across Türkiye. Türkiye's R&D human resources rose from 29 thousand to 292 thousand in this period. The number of patent applications filed in Türkiye in a year was only 414. Now Türkiye has become a country that produces more than 10 thousand patents a year."
Expressing that in order to carry Türkiye to the place it deserves they have to work ten times as hard if others work once, Kacır said, "It is with this understanding that I find the work MÜSİAD carries out both in Türkiye and all around the world truly very valuable." Explaining that under the leadership of President Erdoğan they launched the national technology initiative and that the defence industry is Türkiye's locomotive on this journey, Kacır stated the following:
"Because in the defence industry, domestic and national capability is not a preference but an absolute necessity for Türkiye. We are a country that has had to fight terrorism for nearly 40 years, and in this struggle we unfortunately did not always see our friends by our side. We went through periods in which we could not even procure the defence industry systems we had paid for. And whenever we set out to meet our own needs with our own means, we then also achieved success in the fight against terrorism."
Explaining that Türkiye took steps to produce its own aircraft and its own automobile long ago, Kacır continued his speech as follows:
"The history of Turkish industrialization had unfortunately turned into a history of stories virtually thwarted throughout the 20th century. But praise be to God, as we stepped into the 21st century, from the beginning of the 2000s Türkiye set out on a new journey with the will of our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. And a will that trusted in the effort, the sweat of the brow, the labour and the intellectual toil of its own children for whatever it needed introduced Türkiye to many success stories one after another. With Bayraktar, Anka, Akıncı, Aksungur, Hürkuş, Hürjet, Atak, Gökbey, Kaan and Kızılelma, the Turkish nation put its signature on the sky."
"Now everyone is more aware of Türkiye's value"
Conveying that Baykar today acquired Piaggio, a 140-year-old Italian aviation company, and that Baykar also signed a partnership agreement with Leonardo, one of the world's aviation giants, to jointly produce the most advanced aviation systems, Kacır made the assessment: “This is the proof of the level to which your labour has brought Türkiye and the Turkish nation. I believe there will be far more work that we will do together in the coming period. Because now everyone is more aware of Türkiye's value. We now meet 80 percent of our defence industry needs with our own means. Twenty-three years ago this rate was around 20 percent."
Expressing that the European Union (EU) still meets 80 percent of its defence industry needs with systems and products it imports, Kacır said, "And the EU is aware at the most advanced level of the security problems this creates. To this end, they aim to allocate far more resources to defence and the defence industry in the coming period. It is precisely in this period that Türkiye has very valuable contributions to make to Europe's security architecture. We wish that we can act together with our Italian friends in these contributions.”
Türkiye-Italy relations
Conveying that Italy is one of Türkiye's most important trade partners, Minister Kacır said:
"Italy is among the top 5 countries in our export markets. God willing, with the new collaborations, investment partnerships and trade collaborations to be established in the coming period, we will have the opportunity to reach a much more advanced level of trade and scale of investment together. Türkiye is a very ambitious country in many industrial fields. Italy too is a country with very valuable industrial capabilities and technological competencies. The two countries have similar cultures, and I believe that the togetherness of two Mediterranean countries will be carried to much more advanced levels in the coming period with a win-win understanding."
Kacır stated that he believes MÜSİAD Italy will also have a very important share in this process. Praise from Minister Kacır for MÜSİAD's work Explaining that MÜSİAD is not merely an association or a civil society organization, Kacır noted the following:
"MÜSİAD is a structure with a claim, with strong goals for the reconstruction and revival of our civilization on behalf of the Turkish nation, and in line with these goals tens of thousands of business people and workers come together hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder. With more than 14 thousand members providing employment to nearly 2 million of our brothers and sisters, it is a civil society organization that is very valuable for us. We take part in every invitation of MÜSİAD with great enthusiasm. Both at MÜSİAD meetings and at Young MÜSİAD and MÜSİAD Women meetings, we take great pleasure in witnessing this enthusiasm of yours and your will to build the Century of Türkiye all together."
Türkiye's Ambassador to Rome Ülgen, for her part, recalled that the 4th Türkiye-Italy Intergovernmental Summit was held on 29 April and that a new target of USD 40 billion was set there for bilateral trade volume, emphasizing that she thinks they will reach this target not only through the state but through the initiatives of private enterprise and joint work.
Bayramoğlu stated that Türkiye must create brands at good levels. MÜSİAD 2nd Term President Bayramoğlu also drew attention to the fact that the cost of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel alone was USD 80 billion, and used the following expressions: "Look, USD 80 billion, not USD 80 million. Well, if we were to use this in the service of humanity, for the development of humanity, if we were to move towards a structure in which we feel respect and reverence for one another rather than war, which would be more beneficial and correct? It is in that sense too that becoming a civil society has very great value."
Bayramoğlu said that they should not halt investments in the defence industry, but on the contrary should continue to develop them until they reach a position where they can compete within the international system.
"MÜSİAD is not only a businessmen's association, but at the same time an institution that bears its social responsibility and that has taken on a duty and mission for the future of humanity." said Bayramoğlu, expressing that the Republic of Türkiye must create brands at good levels and that for this, very great duties fall to all MÜSİAD members attending today's meeting.
MÜSİAD aims to expand sectoral cooperation and its member network abroad in the new term
MÜSİAD Vice President Başdemir, for his part, stated that he was delivering his second speech on behalf of MÜSİAD today in Italy after Germany yesterday and that he was therefore excited, and said that MÜSİAD will stand by the business people operating in Germany and Italy in the future as it has in the past.
Başdemir expressed that MÜSİAD has boards covering 16 sectors worldwide and that in this term they want to link them with one another.
Stating that an important cooperation has emerged recently between Turkish and Italian companies, Başdemir said: "Of course, there has been a commercial development in Italy recently that has pleased us greatly. As you know, Baykar is truly a source of pride for us, a source of pride for all Turkish citizens. It cooperated with Piaggio. Later it did so with Leonardo. God willing, in this term these collaborations will increase and we will develop them."
MÜSİAD Head of International Organization Sar, for his part, noted that they completed their organization in the G20 countries in the previous term, and that their target in this term is to increase their number of members abroad, which stands at 2,500, and to develop relations among the members.
