Minister of Commerce Omer Bolat stated that the digitalization process, artificial intelligence and e-commerce will increase global trade and said, “We have a goal of increasing the share of e-commerce and e-export, which currently constitutes a 1.5% share in our total exports, to 10% by 2028.” “
Minister Bolat started his speech at the 8th International Young Businesspeople Congress (UGiK), organized by Genc MUSIAD with the theme “Global Harmony”, by expressing his condolences to the citizens and their relatives who lost their lives in the Kahramanmaras-centered earthquake that took place on February 6, 2023, 1 year ago.
Providing information about the work done in the region, Bolat said, “We have never forgotten our brothers and sisters in the region, as a state and a nation. From the first hours of the earthquake, our state, government, nation and NGOs came together. Currently, 40 thousand people have started to live in permanent residences in the region. 200 thousand permanent houses will be delivered to their beneficiaries by the end of this year. The construction of the remaining ones will be completed quickly.”
Bolat underlined that the region is healing its wounds quickly and said that life is slowly returning to normal.
Expressing the importance of the event in his speech, Bolat referred to the founding period of Genc MUSIAD and said that the project enabled the participation of tens of thousands of business people in Turkiye.
Bolat stated that entrepreneurship started at an early age and continued his words as follows:
“You represent Turkiye’s entrepreneurial spirit and economic dynamism. I had a 3G slogan: ‘Turkiye’s Future equals our Entrepreneurs and Youth.’ I was pleased to see how successful the young entrepreneurs whose stands we just visited are doing. As the Ministry of Commerce, we continue our work to support sustainable startups, aiming to maximize the potential of our youth and entrepreneurs and increase their international competitiveness. In terms of strong exports and sustainability, we can only achieve this with innovative, innovative, high added value and branding value products. Our exports, which were $0.55 per kilogram in 2002, are $1.37 today, and we will be able to increase this even higher with products with high added value and brand value.”
“The market for you is no longer just your own village, region, or country, and it will not be enough.”
Minister Bolat touched on the impact of platforms such as UGiK on young people’s entrepreneurship and said that they will continue to support young people in all efforts to strengthen the Turkish economy.
Pointing out the issues that need to be taken into consideration within the framework of the “Global Harmony” theme, Bolat said, “The market for you is no longer just your own village, town, district, city, region, or country. You must target both the world and the global markets. If you do not target, competitors in the global market will come and force you to compete in your country. If you don’t go to their house, they will knock on your door.”
Stating that innovation and technological developments should play a leading role in achieving sustainable development goals, Bolat gave information about what needs to be done on environmental responsibility, the future of global trade, intercultural understanding and cooperation, resilience against economic difficulties, encouraging young entrepreneurship and spiritual dynamics.
Bolat said, “In 1990, the total exports in the world were $1 trillion, and it increased to $32 trillion in 2022. $25 trillion of this was goods exports, $7 trillion was services exports. In 2023, this figure decreased to $31 trillion, it was a difficult year. The process of digitalization, artificial intelligence and e-commerce will increase global trade. We have a goal to increase the share of e-commerce and e-export, which currently constitutes a 1.5% share in our total exports, to 10% by 2028.”
“We aim to export more every month than in the same month a year ago.”
Minister of Commerce Bolat, talking about the work done to encourage young entrepreneurs, said, “We see that almost all of Turkiye’s large groups now allocate a certain portion of their annual profits to fund young enterprises, become partners in them, become angel investors, and contribute to the venture capital fund.”
“We will build the Turkiye Century together in the second century of our Republic.” Bolat said that it is a goal for them to export more every month than in the same month a year ago.
Bolat explained that they also apply active trade policy tools regarding imported products that harm domestic and national production in Turkiye and try to enter Turkiye through unfair commercial practices.
“We attach great importance to international direct investments”
Minister Omer Bolat stated that they are working and will continue to work together with the business world for Turkiye’s growth and development, and made the following statements:
“At this point, we also attach great importance to international direct investments. Approximately $262 billion of international direct investments came to our country from 2003 to 2023. The number of international direct investors, which was 5 thousand in 2022, reached more than 80 thousand in 2023. 30% of Turkiye’s exports are made by international direct investors. We also support direct investments that provide production, employment, pay taxes and increase our exports to our country.”
Bolat gave information about other studies carried out within the Ministry and emphasized that they are determined to provide support to SMEs and companies producing high value-added products.
Minister Bolat said, “Turkish economy has grown 4.5 times since 21 years. As of the end of September, we reached a national income of $1 trillion 75 billion and a per capita national income of $12 thousand 650. We estimate that the results for the whole of 2023 will be revealed on March 1, hopefully there will be more, not less. We target $267 billion of goods exports and $100 billion of service exports in 2024. We are determined to further reduce our foreign trade deficit, and we are working with all our strength to achieve this.”
Underlining that they are determined to increase the export value per kilogram first to $2 and then to $3 with the contribution of young people to exports, Bolat gave information to the participants about the ongoing projects within the Ministry.
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz