New strategy to boost Turkish exports in remote markets: Erdoğan

The success story of Turkish exporters in close regions will now be extended further as Turkey will implement a new strategy seeking to boost its exports to remote markets, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday.

Speaking at the Export Champions program of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) in the commercial capital Istanbul, Erdoğan stated countries within a 2,000-kilometer (1,243-mile) range have constituted two-thirds of total exports. “We are now realizing the distant countries strategy with the target of an 8,000-kilometer range. Our goal is to increase our country’s share in exports fourfold to countries in distant geographies. Within this scope, we will be revealing in the coming days our action plan to increase our exports to $81.5 billion (TL 704.54 billion) in 17 countries that make up 64% of the world economy with a combined $84.5 trillion volume,” Erdoğan said.

To realize this goal, the president said, an export development fund will be created with contributions from the TIM and exporters’ unions to help remove the need for exporters to make security deposits. He also said that the country’s Eximbank will be restructured and strengthened.

Erdoğan added that a new fair center in Istanbul will be established soon, and the TIM will be included in its administration. “We are determined to make Istanbul, the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, an expo hub and bring it to the position of the heart of global trade,” he said.

He stressed that exports not only mean earning money, and that trade is also not only selling and buying goods, as exporters are Turkey’s representatives in cultural and social relations. “As our businesspeople produce, export and provide employment, we will all be able to look to the future with confidence,” he said.

The most important leverage for Turkey to become one of the top 10 global economies is its export power, Erdoğan said, adding that the country initially aims to increase the number of exporters, currently standing around 95,000 to 150,000, and later to 300,000.

Turkey reached the critical level of taking a 1% slice of the world export pie, Erdoğan underlined. The rising share of high-tech exports in the nation’s exports, the growing number of exporters with over $1 billion in annual exports, and more and more jobs in exporting companies all show that Turkey is on the right path, he said.

12-month exports hit record $211 billion

Last year, despite the pandemic, Turkey showed a good performance, and the country is in a better position this year by reaching historical high figures monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually, Erdoğan said.

“Our 12-month exports have surpassed the $200 billion level for the first time and hit a record $211 billion as of Sept. 17,” the president said.

He told in August, the country’s exports rose 52% year-on-year to hit the highest August figures in the republic’s history at $19 billion. “I hope the country will also…