Turkish vice president pledges to continue supporting entrepreneurs

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Turkish government will continue its efforts to support the country's entrepreneurs, the nation’s vice president pledged on Friday.

“We will continue to implement policies that prevent waste, strengthen savings, and increase the competitiveness and efficiency of the economy within free market rules,” Cevdet Yilmaz said during the Consultation Meeting with Business World Representatives in Istanbul.

All stakeholders, industry, and trade representatives work to implement reforms for the economy, he said, adding that they found it beneficial to directly exchange ideas with the business world before the Medium-Term Program (MTP), which includes Türkiye’s three-year macroeconomic targets and the policies Türkiye will follow in the economic and social fields.

Emphasizing that the country continues to support investment, employment, production, and export-oriented growth policies, the vice president stated that the government had announced 14 different Treasury-supported Credit Guarantee Fund packages with a total loan size of 250 billion liras ($9.3 billion), prioritizing small- and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs. It has taken additional macroprudential measures in consumer loans to ensure that the government directs loans towards production, investment, and export rather than consumption, he said.

Yilmaz stressed that the country aims to consolidate financial stability to boost employment and to provide sustainable solutions for the current account deficit.

Saying that the government will continue with well-defined and result-oriented reform steps to improve the investment environment, he cited President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit this week to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, saying: “During our president’s tour of three Gulf countries, we saw that both parties have signed up for a historical cooperation that will increase our bilateral trade volume and direct investments in our country.

“The continuation of this cooperation on a win-win basis will continue with other countries, not only in the defense industry or food but also in the technology-oriented e-market sector, renewable energy and groundbreaking technologies.”

Present at the meeting were representatives from the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM), Foreign Economic Relations Board, Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (Musiad), Turkish Industry and Business Association (Tusiad), Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK), Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (Turkonfed), International Investors Association (Yased), Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO), and Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO).