Minister of Trade Omer Bolat said, “Yesterday, our one-day exports were $1 billion 260 million. We aim to end this year with a total foreign exchange inflow of $355 billion, including $255 billion in goods exports and over $100 billion in service exports.”
Speaking at the Professional Ethics Summit organized by the Turkish Economic Enterprise and Business Ethics Association (IGIAD) at Istanbul University Beyazit Campus, Bolat said that one of the most important issues in the business world is ethics.
Bolat emphasized that it is of no importance to become rich unless you earn lawfully, and noted that the greatest capital is health, reputation and honesty.
Referring to the importance of the Ahi tradition, Bolat continued his words as follows:
“Principles such as justice, responsibility, fair sharing, reliability, self-criticism, empathy, solidarity and avoiding waste, which are considered basic moral values, are among the most lacking elements in business life today. These are the principles that concern every segment of business life, such as giving the job to qualified people, performing the given job properly, paying the employee for their labor without delay, not trading defective products, not engaging in hoarding, not selling goods at exorbitant prices, and not engaging in black marketeering. These principles are behaviors that we should pay attention to, not only in business life but in every aspect of our lives. Money must have religion, faith and morality. Our basic motto should be to pursue the good and the right understanding and to ensure their spread, not to look at the bad ones and emulate them.”
Referring to the importance of catching up with global trends today, where professions change rapidly depending on trends and technology, Bolat made the following evaluations:
“We all have important responsibilities to be the country that sets the trend, to ensure sustainability in production, to increase value-added exports, and to raise the reputation of our country to higher levels. This is not only the duty of politicians and those who govern the country. Our economy has risen to a highly developed level with the huge services provided by AK Party governments under the strong leadership of our Presidency for the last 21 years, the complete change of infrastructure and superstructure, reforms in education and health, industry, agriculture, tourism, defense industry and technological developments. The welfare of our nation has also increased greatly. Our country has reached a respected position in the fields of foreign policy and defense industry.”
“We attach importance to both technology, investment and employment”
Emphasizing that today’s Turkiye is in a better position than yesterday’s Turkiye, Bolat said, “We were very happy when we exported $50 million in 1923, $1 billion a year in 1973, and $1 billion a month in 1987. Today, we have become a country that can export sometimes $1.5 billion a day. Yesterday, our exports reached $1 billion 260 million. We aim to end this year with a total foreign exchange inflow of $355 billion, including 255 billion in goods exports and over $100 billion in service exports.”
Stating that they aim to be a country that shapes the age within the framework of the Turkiye Century vision and not only follows the change but also directs it, Bolat said, “We attach importance to both technology, investment and employment in order to achieve sustainable and high value-added production. Our unemployment rate decreased to 9.1%. I can say that this is the lowest figure we have achieved in many years. According to official figures, there are 3 million 150 thousand unemployed people.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz