BUSINESS DIPLOMACY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

September 2023… Newly appointed Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, accompanied by a Turkish business delegation, is in New York explaining Türkiye’s new economic management to investors. The ‘Türkiye Investment Conference’, organized by the DEIK/Türkiye-US Business Council, is being hosted by Goldman Sachs. Here in Türkiye, we can’t help but wonder, “How did we miss out on being in those corridors?” DEIK President Nail Olpak is someone I have contacted many times in my 32 years as an economic journalist. I wrote to him, asking, “What’s going on?” I was waiting for a reply, but when my phone rang, I was surprised: “Ms. Yasemin, there is tremendous interest here. All the rooms on the 43rd floor of Goldman Sachs have been opened for Türkiye.” The next day, Hürriyet reported this on its front page, but I will never forget Mr. Nail’s excitement…

DEIK can be described with precisely this excitement. Since 1986, it has been a voluntary organization dedicated to representing the Turkish business world in the most distant countries.

Humanity is debating whether a ‘Third World War’ will break out or has already begun, but according to many experts, our generation is in the midst of a war unlike any previously experienced. While superpowers clash not with missiles but with tariffs, we have all witnessed how the economy has become a diplomatic power. DEIK was founded exactly 40 years ago with this foresight, and since then, it has been representing the Turkish business world in every color and language. In doing so, it does not forget the power of the press.

I see the steps taken, the new councils, and innovative projects such as specialization as moves that will further increase this power, and I wish for many more 40 years.