President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on businesspeople and economic policy makers to focus more on a human-oriented economy at an event gathering businesspeople from 70 countries in Istanbul. Organized by the International Cooperation Platform under the aegis of the presidency, the 7th Bosporus Summit kicked off yesterday with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The theme of this year's annual Bosporus Summit is "Global Futures and Universal Goals." Executive members of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have come from 70 countries worldwide including the Middle East, Africa, Turkic republics and the Balkans.Stating that implementations such as negative interest rates, "which could not be imagined until now," have become the everyday policy tools of the central banks of developed countries, Erdoğan said that despite all these changes, developed nations cannot overcome the obstacles they have experienced in growth since they are looking for the cure elsewhere due to their wrong diagnoses. Suggesting that the nature of the economy is founded upon demand which is neither a robot nor a financial instrument, but something that can only be revealed by people, Erdoğan pointed out that the way to sustainable growth runs through people, and more precisely through the expansion of people's possibilities to live in peace and prosperity.President Erdoğan said that in the end, we, as humans, will determine the winners in trade and war in the coming times, along with technological superiority, and it is not possible to build a healthy global future without a population increase, a financial system that supports production and investment and adoption of a justice-based approach in all fields, stressing that since technology cannot be banned in this fight, the best way is to develop methods that will adapt to it.Noting that according to 2014 U.N. predictions, the global food need will be about 60 percent higher in 2050 than today, Erdoğan said this situation shows that more products should be obtained from the same amount of soil. Erdoğan recalled that according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's statistics, one-third of food produced globally goes to waste and that the 222 million tons of annual food waste in developed countries is almost equal to the 230 million tons of annual food production in sub-Saharan Africa. Defining this situation as "a waste economy," Erdoğan stressed that these figures make it inevitable that the foundations of a human-oriented economy are actually a yield economy and the economics of frugality.The three-day summit includes 22 panels held under the auspices of "Looking Ahead: The Next 50 Years," "Approach of the West towards Developing Countries," the "New Silk Road," "Governing Smart Cities," "Women's Empowerment for a Smart Economy," the "Future of the Sports Industry," "Renewable Energy," and the "Contribution of Art on the Economy."During the three-day summit, issues ranging from the defense industry to financing and the sports industry to smart technology applications will be brought to the table by experts, with B2B meetings to be held during the event.Attended by approximately 2,500 people every year, Turkey's 7th summit has hosted Albanian President Bujar Nishani and Northern Cyprus President Mustafa Akıncı, providing leaders and businesspeople to discuss opportunities for cooperative advances in banking and finance, telecommunications, energy, construction, transportation and the defense industry.Sessions is also being held to discuss Turkey's economic vision for 2023, alongside Saudi Arabia's vision for 2030 which envisages a road map for economic and developmental action.The Bosporus Summit was first held in 2010, when 963 participants from 17 countries attended and the chambers of attending countries signed several mutual trade agreements.An estimated 1,400 people from 36 countries attended the summit the following year in 2011, when a cooperation agreement between the Environment and Urban Planning Ministries of Turkey and Jordan was signed.The next year in 2012, an agreement worth $80 billion was signed for the Russian Elbrus Project. The 4th Bosporus Summit in 2013 resulted in the signing of agreements between Turkey, China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Algeria totaling $360 million. The 5th Bosporus Summit saw $560 million in business deals signed. Last year, a total of $720 in business deals were realized while the number of participants at the summit passed the 2,000 mark.