President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the General Assembly of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) at Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Congress and Exhibition Center.

"WE KEEP OUR CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION OPEN WITH OUR BUSINESS WORLD"

Stating that they meet with DEİK members on different occasions, make consultations and search for solutions to problems, President Erdoğan noted: "We endeavor to stay in close contact with you on every issue regarding the Turkish economy and foreign trade. We keep our channels of communication open with our business world during the implementation process of our decision to stop our commercial activities with Israel, which has martyrized 36 thousand innocents in Gaza, in order force them to a ceasefire. We will maintain our pressure on Israel in the areas of trade and diplomacy until the Netanyahu administration ends its massacres in Gaza. We will continue to discuss our matters and produce solutions to our problems with the DEİK in the upcoming period as well."

President Erdoğan said: "We stand with all who work and export for Türkiye, have confidence in the Turkish economy and increase their investments, and contribute to the construction of the Century of Türkiye. Our political views, our worlds of thought may differ. Our views of life, our approaches to incidents or problems may differ. These are each a sign that shows Türkiye's greatness and the richness of its social and cultural treasure."

"WE HAVE NEVER DEVIATED FROM OUR GOALS"

Stressing that the global economy has been going through very stormy waters in the past four-five years, President Erdoğan went on to say: "The economic problems, triggered by the COVID-19, have become further complicated with the conflicts in our region. We have been faced with many challenges, from freight rates to commercial limitations, fluctuations in the energy and food prices to other uncertainties. Türkiye experienced a big earthquake disaster in addition to these challenges. Our more than 53 thousand people lost their lives in the February 6 earthquakes. The cost of the earthquakes, which have adversely affected our 11 cities and 14 million citizens, to our economy has been 104 billion dollars. Not only buildings were collapsed, but production facilities were damaged, places of business were collapsed, companies were closed, and massive destruction occurred in the infrastructure of our cities. The 170 thousand of the 850 thousand independent sections, which became unusable in the earthquake zone, were places of business. No matter how developed it is, no economy, including that of Europe and U.S., can easily overcome such a crisis."

"Despite all these setbacks, thanks be to Allah, we have never deviated from our goals in any area, from exports to growth, employment to investments," President Erdoğan continued, and added: "I hereby would like to share some figures. Our exports have broken the record of the Republican era by exceeding 255 billion dollars with DEİK members' efforts,  as well. And yearly export reached 257.6 billion dollars as of April. In the January-April 2024 period, our exports increased to 82.9 billion dollars year over year with an increase of 2.7 per cent."

Also drawing attention to the promising results in the area of growth, President Erdoğan underscored that Türkiye, with a growth rate of 4.5 per cent, ranks first in Europe, second among the OECD countries, and fourth within the G20.