Champions of Exports Worth USD 344 Billion Received Their Awards From President Erdoğan

TİM President Mustafa Gültepe pointed out that Turkey has increased its exports of goods and services by 66 percent in the last three years and added, “We increased our goods exports from USD 169 billion to USD 254 billion and our service exports from USD 38 billion to USD 90 billion. We now export what we annually did in 1983 in a week.”

The 30th General Assembly of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) and the 'Champions of Export' award ceremony were held in Istanbul with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and ministers. President Erdoğan gave the awards to the top 10 companies that made the highest contribution to the export of goods worth 254 billion dollars in 2022 and to the company that became Türkiye's overall service export champion.

In his speech at the ceremony, TIM President Mustafa Gültepe said that the export family achieved great success under the leadership of President Erdoğan. Stating that the export of goods has increased sixfold and the export of services has increased fivefold in the last 21 years and continued:

Only in the last three years, we have increased our goods exports from 169 billion dollars to 254 billion dollars and our service exports from 38 billion dollars to 90 billion dollars. Our exports of goods and services increased by 66 percent in 3 years. We now export what we annually did in 1983 in a week. All of this happened with determination, stability, perseverance, and struggle. There is no single county we did not set foot in, and we did not leave out any region. We are among the largest suppliers in many countries.  The support provided by our government to our exporters and the fast action mechanism is behind all these successes. Establishing the Export Development Joint Stock Company contributed to solving the bail problem. Turkish Trade Bank has a century-old history and has become an exporter. We will start our work on export financing and projects with our bank as soon as possible. The dynamics of trade are constantly changing. We do not stop, and we are constantly renewing ourselves. We work to reach new customers in new markets. Under the coordination of our Ministry of Commerce, we organized 120 international delegations in the first six months of the year and participated in 206 fairs abroad.”

THE MORE WE REDUCE OUR PRODUCTION COSTS, THE STRONGER WE WILL BE

Emphasizing that the needs change and diversify as exports increase, Gültepe noted they are going through a phase where new solutions are needed and explained the demands and expectations from exporters:

“We are in a great struggle with rival countries. The more we can reduce our production costs in this struggle, the stronger our hand will be. Despite the successive discounts since the beginning of the year, energy still constitutes an important cost item for our industrialists. Our industrialists cost electricity almost twice as much as Asian countries. Therefore, our exporters need new discounts. We expect the minimum wage support application, which will end in June, to continue with an increase in the amount. As our exports increase, so does our need for financing. Rising demand brings big investments, big investments, and new financial needs. We know you will not spare our President's support in accessing finance and increasing rediscount credit limits. The statements of our President regarding the visa problem with Europe and the USA give us hope. We believe that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible. On the other hand, we are in a period when we need to strengthen our logistics capacity. We wish the breakthrough you have made in our highway infrastructure in the last 21 years will be crowned with rail and seaway. These transportation methods also align with our country's 2053 net zero target.”

The ceremony was attended by President Erdoğan, as well as Minister of Commerce Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.