TÜSİAD General Assembly Elects New Board of Directors

The President of the High Advisory Council Ömer Aras delivered opening remarks:

On geopolitical developments that reshape dynamics of cooperation

• “Domestic political and economic developments within countries; the impact of geopolitical shifts on the global trade order; natural disasters driven by climate change; rapid technological advances; and the expanding role of AI in our lives are the main drivers of the major transformation we experienced in 2025. As history has shown many times, in periods of uncertainty, countries that position themselves correctly seize major opportunities, while those that misposition themselves can suffer serious setbacks.”

• “The global economy has moved to a more selective and more costly order. This is not a temporary wave. A new cost burden has been added on top of production and trade, and this new architecture is changing how competitiveness is measured. This transformation is crystallizing in three concrete areas:
  
  • Geopolitics and sanctions regime: Wars, sanctions, and export tariffs are no longer external to trade; they are becoming embedded within it. Companies are no longer competing on price alone, but also on reliable delivery and consistent quality.
  • Industrial policy regime: Major economies are relocating production. They want to produce critical inputs domestically and are tightening supply chains. They are managing technology development, access, and use as a strategic domain.
  • Standards regime: Standards have become a prerequisite for market access. Carbon footprint, traceability, product safety, data security, and cybersecurity are not abstract goals—they are enforceable rules that can stop shipments at the border, cancel orders, and raise the cost of financing.”
• “Taken together, these three shifts are changing the metrics of global competition. Low-cost production alone is no longer enough; production must be reliable, measurable, and compliant with standards. In this new order, the relationship between growth and development becomes clearer: productivity moves decisively to the forefront, strengthening competitiveness and ensuring that growth translates into development.”

Productivity as the Core Component of Economic Development:

• “This period of heightened uncertainty can become an opportunity for Türkiye. By positioning ourselves correctly as a country—and by leveraging our regional advantages at home—we can reach our goals through a development model grounded in productivity.”
• “In the new global order, productivity must be the heart of growth. Without rising productivity, growth remains fragile. The fight against inflation becomes harder and longer; real wages do not rise; and prosperity gains do not materialize. Over time, a gap emerges between realized inflation and perceived inflation. If we can transition to productivity-based economic growth, we can achieve development as a country.”
• “Economic growth is a quantitative concept; it refers to an increase in national income. Development, by contrast, is qualitative — it implies structural transformation. It asks: “How are we living? Who benefits? What is the state of health, education, institutional quality, and income distribution?”
• “There can be no development without economic growth, but economic growth does not automatically create development. Development is the fair and sustainable diffusion of growth across society. Growth that generates development can only be achieved through productivity. That is why 2026’s central agenda should be a national productivity mobilization.”
• “Today, we must do better than our current production of goods and services. We must produce higher value-added, higher-quality goods and services that comply with EU standards, use high technology, and deliver more output with fewer resources.”
• “Productivity is the primary path for Türkiye to generate prosperity without inflation and to remain competitive globally. If productivity rises, real wages rise. If productivity rises, the current account deficit shrinks. If productivity rises, income distribution improves. For Türkiye, the issue is clear—we must recognize it.”
• “We have strategic advantages that can create competitiveness through higher productivity. We must use them rationally to achieve development. Let me give a few examples of these strategic advantages:
  
  • Turning geography into economic power: Within a four-hour flight radius, there are 3 billion people—across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. No other country has such a geographic advantage. In short, we have unique market access.
  • A diversified industrial base: We have an industry capable of offering production variety and the potential to produce higher value-added goods, along with long-standing experience with integration into global supply chains.
  • Defense industry momentum: We have taken major steps in the defense sector—an area the world currently needs and will invest heavily in the coming period. We must convert this rational strategy into a lasting competitive advantage by turning the defense industry’s innovation potential into cross-sector synergies.
  • Agricultural land and irrigation capacity: If we can create productivity through rational investments in agriculture and livestock over the next decade, we can make a major leap toward development. We should approach agriculture and agro-industry with regional advantages in mind.
  • Health services export potential: Especially for an aging Europe, we have the potential to deliver superior health services to surrounding countries. We should focus on elderly-care tourism as a significant service export and view health not only as diagnosis and treatment, but also as a broad industrial domain.
  • Regional competitive advantages within the country: We have unique strengths such as sun-and-culture tourism. By providing value-added, productivity-enhancing services in complementary sectors like tourism and health, we can build competitive advantages.
  • Human capital and education: Productivity in every sector requires a well-educated human resource. With the right education policies and equality of opportunity, we have the capacity to produce high value-added output with our high-potential youth. By strengthening our education infrastructure physically and technologically, we can reverse brain drain and turn education—like health—into an exportable service.
  • Our areas of competitive advantage are not limited to these examples. The core point is that our development strategy should focus on areas where we already have a competitive edge. Producing efficient goods and services in these fields is easier and more sustainable. That is why productivity mobilization is simultaneously a competitiveness strategy, a growth strategy, and a development strategy.”