Ankara, Turkey, 18 July 2019 - Turkey’s “integration into global and regional value chains” was the focal point of a high-level consultative workshop in Ankara on 18^th July co-hosted by the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group.

TEPAV Executive Director, Professor Dr. Guven SAK, in a brief speech welcomed the participants to the event. In his welcome remarks, Saleh Jelassi, Regional Manager, IsDB Group Regional Hub Turkey, thanked the Ministry of Treasury and Finance of the Republic of Turkey as well as TEPAV for co-organizing the event adding: “IsDB Group’s approach is perfectly aligned with Turkey’s 11^th National Development Plan which aims to unleash the country’s potentials by ensuring digital transformation of supply chains and industrial production.”

A keynote speaker at the event was Cagatay IMIRGI, Director General, Foreign Economic Relations in the Ministry of Treasury and Finance who described the discussion as “very timely” and appreciated the innovative proposals put forth by the IsDB Group Mission led by Jean Michel Happi, Director, IsDB’s Country Strategy and Cooperation, CSC.

In their keynote presentations, IsDB’s CSC Director, Jean Michel Happi, and Mohammed Faiz ShahulHamid, Lead Global Value Chains (GVC) Specialist briefed the audience on the Bank’s New Business Model as well as the GVC-based Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) for Turkey.      

The interactive panel discussion that followed was moderated by H.E. Bozkurt Aran, the Current Director of Center for Multilateral Trade, TEPAV. It underlined the need to build on the country’s success stories for introducing further efficiency in competitive manufacturing, industries, boosting entrepreneurship, enhancing higher education, hi-tech skill sets and focusing on forward linkages. During the panel discussion, IsDB’s Senior GVC Specialist, Dr. Mustafa Yagci, elaborated that “the international stage is now suitable for pursuing industrial policy with the ultimate goal of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 which calls for prevalence of Industrial Innovation and Infrastructure.” He said: “By integrating in to Global and regional Value Chains, the countries no longer have to make end to end products. Rather, they can be a critical part of any product.”

Turkey is a founding member of the Islamic Development Bank which was established in 1974 to pursue socio-economic development of its member countries which now add up to 57, all of them members of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, OIC. Historically, the country has been a pioneering contributor to many major development initiatives including Sharia’ compliant PPP (public private partnership) projects in health sector, launching of MCPS (Member Country Partnership Strategy), as well as launching IsDB Group’s country gateway offices and regional hubs in line with the Bank’s decentralization policy.