Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak highlighted that the West-centered ecosystem is in the process of shifting toward the East. This offers great opportunities for countries located on that axis, and Turkey constitutes the backbone of the main belt as a key country in the newly created global ecosystem. Discussing the global crisis from the perspective of China and India in relation to Turkey in an address at the International Economic Development Summit held on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Çelebi Strategic Consultancy at the Borsa Istanbul premises yesterday, Minister Albayrak elaborated on the recent political and economic developments and Turkey's road map for this dynamic climate.
Recalling his visits to China and India, the minister highlighted that the visits have opened a wide array of opportunities for successful and productive regional partnerships.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak emphasized the emergence of a new global ecosystem in which power is shifting toward the East from West and reckoned that Turkey is a key country that links the two edges of this system, hence it assumes a pivotal role to make up the main skeleton of this order. To that end, the minister noted, "We will discuss and quest for increasing cooperation with a rational road map."
India was identified as one of Turkey's target countries for developing trade ties in the 2016-2017 period. India, which is Turkey's second largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region, is one of the fastest growing free market economies with a sustainable development model, which is built on the solid foundation of entrepreneurial energy, youthful dynamism and creativity. In terms of economic bilateral relations between the two countries, Turkey ranked 15th in India exports in 2016 and 42nd in imports. The highest trade volume between the two countries was recorded in 2014, reaching $7.48 billion, according to data compiled by the Economy Ministry of Turkey. Furthermore, Turkey's exports to India in 2016 reached $652 million.
Moreover, Turkey is also situated on the Middle Corridor of the Belt and Road Project, initiated by the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
As the project aims to connect Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa in terms of logistics and transportation via ports, railways, airports, electrical network and even fiber optic networks, Turkey is working to strengthen its connection to routes via every possible means of transportation.
According to Oxford Economics data, the project includes 65 countries, which account for one third of global GDP and 4.5 billion of the world's population. Within the scope of the project, it is stated that up to $304 billion has been spent.
Minister Albayrak also drew attention to the gross domestic products (GDP) of China and India, saying that the total GDP of both countries is expected to exceed those of the G7 countries.
Albayrak indicated that Turkey, within this framework, must seize significant opportunities offered by eastern economies.
Emphasizing that the large population of both countries is almost equal to the world population, he said Turkey's exports to these countries is only around $2 billion, which corresponds to 1 percent of total domestic exports. Though not a pleasant picture, this figure does open a great market full of opportunities for Turkish exporters.
Informing that Turkey must be prepared in the face of a potential economic conflict in the Asia-Pacific region, Albayrak said, Turkey's infrastructure - railways, marine routes and airways - must be well prepared, energy diversification must be secured, the pipelines must be expanded and the capacity of energy storage should be magnified, drawing attention to the fact that Turkey is located very close to a region which has the two-thirds of the global energy resources.
Within a setting where global infrastructure, energy resources and global transformation, Turkey, the minister indicated, is positively diverging with its young population, competitive private sector, and investor-friendly environment fostered with liberal policies.
