Investment in technology key for Turkey's transformation

By Tuba Sahin and Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - A meeting of international decision makers agreed Turkey should invest more in technology to instigate a transformation, vice president of the Istanbul Finance Summit (IFS) told Anadolu Agency.

"The summit mainly addressed technology, and our main focus was transformation which is also the main theme of new economic program announced on Sept. 30," Dilek Kocak Tozlu said.

The New Economic Program is committed to support research and development, innovation and technological transformation.

The country's financing package, 'IVME' which was revealed last May, also provided incentives to companies producing technology.

During the summit, dozens of speakers have discussed several issues about technology and transformation besides financial topics.

She also praised Turkey’s adaptation to the transformation in finance.

Touching on the number of participants at the forum, Tozlu said the summit was "strong" thanks to it “strong” participants.

"Generally the second day of forums sees less number of people attending than the first day, but the crowd was same on the second day of IFS'19," Tozlu explained.

- 10,000 participants in 10 years

Furkan Unal, the deputy chairman of IFS, underlined that nearly 1,000 participants from 10 countries attended the event this year.

"IFS has hosted more than 10,000 people from 100 countries and more than 400 speakers have taken part since the beginning of the event in 2010," Unal said.

"This event become a brand, a brand of Istanbul, Turkey," he asserted.

Marking the tenth year of the event, Unal said officials, economists, businesspeople, and academics gathered under the theme of “Financial Metamorphosis and Back to the Future.”

"We discussed the change of the global economy and financial sectors, including financial technologies, borders, political situations, and different financial instruments that we are going to use in the near future," Unal said.

He underlined the importance of understanding “the change” in order to take action and implement structures.

“For example, there is a Netflix generation coming and companies should be aware of it and keep up with this change, otherwise they will lose their position,” Unal warned.

The Istanbul Finance Summit was held on Oct. 9-10 with numerous speeches delivered by officials, economists, business-people, bankers, and academics.

The event this year hosted professionals from not only finance sector but also others, such as defense industry, energy, and construction.

Simone Kaslowski, the head of Turkish Industry and Business Association, Aysem Sagin, the president of the International Investors Association (YASED), Hakan Yurdakul, the member of Turkish Presidency's Economic Policies Board, Tamer Kiran, deputy chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Alp Keler, the chairman of Turkish Capital Markets Association, CEOs of private lenders Citibank, Finansbank and Denizbank, CFOs of prominent Turkish companies were among speakers.

Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez also attended the event through a video conference on the first day of the forum.

Last year, the IFS hosted nearly 800 participants and 41 speakers from 23 countries.