President Erdoğan: We trust in the Turkish economy

Highlights from President Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

"The intergovernmental summit mechanism, which we first held in our country in 2008, has contributed to significant progress in the economy as well as the multi-dimensional political relations between our countries over the intervening period. The initiatives of you, our esteemed business people, have also played a major role in this success. I sincerely believe that you will carry this partnership to even higher levels in the coming period.

Distinguished guests, we are going through a period where more protectionism and turning inward within borders are being discussed in the economy. We are all following the mutual standoffs occurring over customs tariffs. We are striving to successfully manage this dynamic atmosphere for our country's economy and even turn it into an opportunity.

"WE TRUST IN THE TURKISH ECONOMY"

We have emerged from similar processes in the past, especially the coronavirus pandemic, without being harmed. Today, we believe that we will demonstrate the same success, and we trust in the Turkish economy. As a requirement of our geographical position that connects the West to the East and the North to the South, we attach great importance to establishing effective economic and commercial partnerships in our region and the world. I would like to express this with great satisfaction today: The Turkish economy continues to grow despite the conflicts and wars in our region and the earthquake, the disaster of the century, which we experienced in 2023.

WE BROKE THE RECORD OF THE LAST 100 YEARS

The direct cost of the earthquake to the Turkish economy is 104 billion dollars, and the indirect cost reaches 150 billion dollars. Despite this, we are healing our wounds rapidly. We are moving forward with confident steps toward our goals in the economy, production, employment, investment, tourism, and the defense industry. In the time that has passed since the earthquake, we have delivered the keys to more than 201 thousand homes to our citizens whose houses were destroyed. By the end of the year, we will build 252 thousand more homes and, hopefully, we will have overcome this heavy burden. While erasing the traces of the disaster of the century on one hand, we are continuing our breakthroughs in the economy without slowing down. In 2024, we broke the record of the last 100 years in exports with 262 billion dollars.

WE HAVE MADE NEARLY 300 BILLION DOLLARS IN INVESTMENTS

Our defense industry exports, one of our country's strongest sectors, reached the highest level in history with 7 billion 154 million dollars. We are one of the few countries that have been able to achieve an average annual growth rate of around 5% in the last 20 years. Again, in the last 20 years, we have invested nearly 300 billion dollars in infrastructure.

OUR EXPORTS HAVE INCREASED MORE THAN 20-FOLD IN 20 YEARS

Our exports have increased more than 20-fold in 20 years. Our share of world exports has doubled. In the last 20 years, we have attracted nearly 270 billion dollars in international direct investment. The number of foreign-capital companies in Turkey has increased from 6 thousand to over 80 thousand. We have entered a process of permanent and significant decline in inflation, which affects the whole world.

WE WILL NOT TAKE A STEP BACK

We are implementing our economic program with determination. Hopefully, we will not take a step back from this. We are determined both in terms of improving the investment environment and implementing new structural reforms. When we look at Italy specifically, we see that our bilateral trade has been on a continuous upward trend since the coronavirus pandemic, despite all global challenges. Our trade volume, which was at the level of 17.3 billion dollars in 2020, has almost doubled in 2024, exceeding 32 billion dollars.

OUR NEW TRADE VOLUME TARGET IS 40 BILLION DOLLARS

Today, Italian capital in Turkey, including those coming through indirect channels, has reached 5 billion dollars, and Turkish capital in Italy has shown a significant breakthrough in recent years, approaching 1 billion dollars. Just as Turkish firms see Italy as a gateway to the European market, we would like Italian firms to consider Turkey as a gateway to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. A population of 2 billion can be reached from Istanbul in just a few hours of flight. Our Turkish Airlines also connects 9 cities in Italy to Istanbul. This tremendous potential contained in trade, investment, and transportation opportunities encourages us to set large and ambitious goals. With this thought, at today's summit, together with Ms. Meloni, we have determined our new trade volume target as 40 billion dollars.