Ömer Bolat, Minister of Trade, underlined that Türkiye could become one of the most prominent global logistics centers and added, “We regard the countries of far geographies as our potential trade partners.”

 

TÜRKİYE is a unique country in the global value chain with its strategic geographical position at the intersection of Asia, Europe and Africa. The country stands out with its qualified human capital, high-quality production and exports of a wide variety of products; Türkiye holds attractive opportunities for global investors. Ömer Bolat, Minister of Trade, mentioned such opportunities to Istanbul Commerce.

QUALIFIED DIVERSITY

What is your comment on Türkiye’s product diversity and quality?

Our manufacturing industry and the sectors with medium-high and high technology products, such as the automotive, machinery, electronics, defence and aerospace sectors, lead our export activities. Value increases based on added value, innovation, cutting-edge technology, and branding have been gaining more prominence in addition to the rising number of our exports. Today, our exporters of global scale step on every corner of the globe while the number of our exported goods increases daily. Our diverse products are exported to quite distinct cultures. Turkish products draw great attention regarding quality, price and diversity in various markets where we act as suppliers. Indeed, the record-breaking export worth US$ 254.2 billion in 2022 demonstrates our success in opening to global markets and our product quality.

On the other hand, with its superb products in various service sectors, our country is now among the few countries in the world. From healthcare to information technology and education culture, many service sectors of our country bear the capacity to avail services in global standards with its excellent human capital and state-of-the-art technology even to the farthest corners of the world.

ACCESS TO THE GRAND MARKET

Do you have a message or advice for global investors wishing to invest in Türkiye?

Türkiye is among the prominent countries concerning the global economy. Our country is a member of G20 countries, and as of 2022, it’s the world’s eleventh, while Europe’s fourth largest economy in terms of GDP is based on purchasing power parity (PPP). Moreover, Türkiye is a party to the Customs Union, and concerning the EU-27, investors can access a market of US$ 27.5 trillion (PPP) and a population of 533.3 million people.

TRADE CORRIDORS

Türkiye is a regional centre among the continents and is positioned at the passage between Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Therefore, the country is positioned to become one of the globe’s most critical logistics centres. Integration of the logistics services, growth of the scales and building transfer centres for intermodal transportation over the passages over Türkiye in the Eastern-Western and Northern-Southern axes are among Türkiye’s global targets. Such a position makes our country prominent in international and geopolitical perspectives.

CLOSING THE DISTANCE

How do you assess Türkiye’s position in global commerce?

In the geopolitical context, our country’s proximity to the land and naval routes on a global scale and its capacity to enable access to 67 countries with a 4-hour flight enhances Türkiye’s attractive opportunities for export. Brand new technologies and communication opportunities also close the distances. Regarding the global value chains, such factors bring the countries in the far geographies forth as potential business partners for our country.

In this respect, to render the far countries’ main addresses of our exports in addition to our traditional markets by benefiting from such a strategic position, the ‘Far Countries Strategy’ was designed by our Ministry. To this end, raising the average range of our country’s total exports, which remain at 3.065km, to the global average, which is 4.744km, is among our objectives.

OUR GLOBAL TARGETS

The transportation corridors over Türkiye bear great importance for freight and passenger transportation. Such corridors add a central function to the country in terms of the transportation activities in the region. In this context, Türkiye is among the nations that have gained the highest economic advantages from global developments in the sector. Türkiye aims to integrate logistics services over the country’s transportation corridors, enhance the scales, and build logistics centers for intermodal transportation.

Rising trend in logistics

“The logistics and transportation sectors share in Türkiye’s exports, increasing yearly. In 2021, with US$ 24.5 billion, 37.5 per cent of our total services exports and in 2022, with US$ 35.3 billion, the logistics and transportation sectors achieved nearly 40 per cent of our total services exports worth US$ 89 billion. Such an increase of 49 per cent registered in 2021-2022 indicates the prominence of the logistics sector for our country and services exports. In this vein, in the Logistics Performance Index ranking reported by the World Bank, our country reached the 38th rank with 3.4 points in 2023 from the 47th rank with 3.15 points in 2018.”

Projects in the Middle Corridor

“The recent global developments decreased the effectiveness of the Southern and Northern Corridors while enhancing the importance of the Middle Corridor. Among the Belt and Road Initiative routes, the ‘Middle Corridor’ is a route to which Türkiye attaches great importance. The Middle Corridor Strategy plans to connect Türkiye and China over the Caspian Sea and the Central Asia countries. It also builds the shortest route from China to Europe in terms of distance. This safe and economical route complements the existing routes at the Eastern-Western axis. Critical infrastructure projects considering this route are being executed internally and with the region’s countries. 

Meanwhile, the Ankara Declaration on the Development Route Project between Türkiye and Iraq was announced in March 2023. Through this project based on trust and cooperation, building an alternative corridor from the India-Pacific region to Europe and towards the Caucasus region is planned. Additionally, facilitating the commerce, customs, visa and transit pass processes between the Gulf Region and Europe is aimed.”

300 thousand international students

”The number of our international students folded almost ten times in the last ten years. The number reached 301 thousand 694 international students in the 2022-2023 academic year. Such figures indicate the resilient infrastructure of our higher education institutions and the high-quality education services provided by our superb academics.”