President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking yesterday at the 22nd General Assembly of the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TİM), said Turkey has no patience for a lack of progress, let alone falling behind. "It is necessary for Turkey to be strong in order to be protected from the circle of fire surrounding it and to extend a hand to its sister countries," said the president, and added, "That's why we have to complete the transitional process after the elections as soon as possible and lead Turkey to the future again."He said Turkey has exceeded predictions many times with its performance in exports, growth and production. The Turkish president stated that he hopes to see a similar performance that surprises both Turkey and the world and added that he is counting on exporters for this to happen. Erdoğan also underlined how strong the relationship is between political stability and economic growth. He said sustainable growth is achieved whenever a politician has the support of the majority.Speaking at the event, TİM head Mehmet Büyükekşi said right now Turkey needs a strong government that can build the future of the country in harmony and well-being. He said Turkey needs to achieve at least 5 percent growth every year in order to meet the goals for 2023. Emphasizing that they have to grow faster to reach the demanding targets, Büyükekşi said: "We are sure the new government that will come to power in the upcoming period will protect the macro-economic gains sensitively. It requires a new paradigm, a new growth model and a new perspective." According to Büyükekşi, this new perspective needs to focus on micro-economy. "We have achieved great success in our macro-economic targets so far. It is time to notch up permanent success in our micro-economic targets. Within this frame, our first aim is to use all of our resources to achieve the highest added value we can," he said.Exports in the first five-month period of 2015 had dropped 8.3 percent to $61.3 billion, which was $66.87 billion in the first five months of 2014. The main causes of the decline were parity fluctuations and political turmoil in Turkey's export markets. In the first month of the year, exports to Iraq dropped by 27 percent, to Russia and Ukraine by 37 percent and to Libya by 40 percent.