New world order offers Turkey opportunities

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - While new world order is a threat to the global economy, it is offering Turkey opportunities, the Turkish deputy trade minister said on Thursday.

Turkey has a huge potential with its geographic position, young population and qualified manpower, Riza Tuna Turagay, the Turkish deputy trade minister stressed during the third Istanbul Economy Summit.

He noted Turkey's share in the global trade is 0.9% and it should grow with a higher share of the value-added and high-technology goods in the country's exports.

"The high-technology's share in our exports is around 3.5% while this ratio is 14% on average in the OECD [the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries," he stressed.

Turagay reminded that the global trade and growth are slowing down. The $19.3-trillion global trade has been rising around 4% annually in the past recent years.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) revised its world trade growth expectations for this year twice from 2.9% down to 2.6% and 1.2%, he added.

The deputy minister said that the world economy is also expected to grow 3% this year, while previous forecasts were 3.6% and 3.2%.

There is an axis shifting in the world, as China and other Asia - Pacific countries raise their share in the global trade, he noted.

He said that the U.S. is the biggest importer country in the world with a $900 billion trade deficit, especially with China ($400 billion).

"The U.S. took measures against this issue and raised taxes for preventing imports from China," he stressed.

The Chinese 2025 project, which aims to make China a leading and self-sufficient country in the technology area, is the main reason of this deficit with China.

Nureddin Nebati, the Turkish deputy finance and treasury minister, said while international institutions expect a 3% growth rate for Turkey in 2020, the country targets to grow 5% next year.

Turkey's exports have been rising in recent years, and the country became a net exporter country for the first time this year, he noted.

Nebati added: "The country achieved to reduce the inflation rate to 10% recently, from around 25% last year."

Turkey remains to be at the center despite some problems, and enables people to reach 1.5 billion population in four hours in its region, he said.

- Summit to generate $1B business volume

The one-day Istanbul Economy Summit, organized at the Ciragan Palace under the main theme of "Are we ready to the new world order?" is hosting around 500 businesspeople from 10 countries.

The summit is expected to generate $1 billion business volume among domestic and foreign firms.

As part of the summit, experts, officials and representatives from the business world will discuss several trending topics related to the global economy.