Turkish minister focuses on shifting exports markets

Praising Turkey’s industrial policies in the 1980s, Zafer Çağlayan, state minister responsible for foreign trade, said the country’s exports were undergoing a structural change that includes a new vision and shifting to new target markets.
“We are trying to develop a well-planned and proactive foreign trade policy,” the minister told the Anatolia news agency.
The exports-focused growth strategy in the 1980s altered the country’s earlier industrial policies that were targeting the domestic market to replace imported goods, Çağlayan said.
These policies underlie the recent boost in exports, as the country is experiencing an even more serious restructuring, he said.
Turkey’s exports rose 11.3 percent in 2010 compared to the previous year, to $113.69 billion, according to data released by the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, or TİM, last week.
“Turkey’s foreign trade is shifting to capital-and-technology-intensive sectors from labor-intensive sectors,” the minister said. “In parallel with the development in industry, our foreign trade is also developing.”
Replying to Anatolia’s questions on concrete targets for foreign trade, Çağlayan said the growth trend would continue next year as world trade rebounds.
Turkey’s exports will hit $127 billion in 2011, and imports will reach $199.5 billion, the minister said. The government expects Turkish exports to reach $160 billion, he said, noting that the Medium Term Program, which covers 2011-2013, will implement a growth strategy that leans on investments, employment and exports.
According to an “Industry Strategy Document and Action Plan” released by the trade ministry earlier last week, the country will work to integrate production and exports, Çağlayan said.
“We target an export volume of $500 billion for the year 2023,” he said.
Thanks to these new strategies, Turkey will feel easy about the future, due to the “zero problems with neighbors” and limitless trade policies to avoid vulnerability in exports from depending too heavily on certain markets, he added.
Çağlayan said they wanted to divert businessmen from the European Union and other traditional markets to emerging African markets that are recording high-growth rates.