We Are Giving Our All For Our “Asia Anew” Vision

The Asia-Pacific region acts as a driving force in the revival of the world economy with its young population, developing economies, awareness of joint action, and cooperation.

The Asia-Pacific region covers large geography. Even though the countries in this region differ according to various sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye mainly focused on 24 countries in this region. These countries are respectively determined as Australia, Independent State of Samoa, Brunei Darussalam, Cook Islands, People’s Republic of China, East Timor, Indonesia, Republic of Fiji, Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Kiribati, North Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Paulu, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand.

The importance of the Asia-Pacific region in the international arena is gradually increasing. The most impactful incidence of 2020 was undoubtedly the Covid-19 pandemic. The Asia-Pacific region became the fastest-growing region around the world with an average growth of 6.5% in 2021, despite the slowdown in the economy as a result of the pandemic in 2020. The growth rates of China and India played a significant role in this rate.

2021 has been a year of normalization in social life compared to the previous year, thanks to the number of cases taken under control and increased vaccination measures. In terms of economy, the lockdown in 2020 has an impact on the world economy as well as on Asia-Pacific countries. Increasing global inflation has manifested itself at different levels according to the economic profile of countries. On the other hand, the Delta and Omicron variants led to results below the expected growth for 2021. Even though vaccinations increased in 2021, the current situation remains below the pre-pandemic figures.

Together with the 19 bilateral Business Councils under the Asia Pacific Business Councils, a total of 161 events were organized, one of which was abroad, in 2020, and 183 events, two of which were abroad, in 2021. Under the awareness of the rising position of the Asia-Pacific region in the global economy, DEİK Asia Pacific Business Councils have carried out many activities and report studies in order to improve Turkey’s trade and investment relations.

In January 2021, a video conference meeting focused on the “Asia Anew Initiative” was held with the presence of Ruhsar Pekcan, Minister of Trade of the term, and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the participation of the Chairpersons of our Business Councils. The “Asia Rising in the Economist & Capital Collaboration” webinar was organized with the participation of Sedat Önal, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as our Bangladesh Business Council, which held meetings with Bangladesh’s leading business world institutions and companies in Dhaka and Chittagong on November 27-30, 2021, as part of the International Investment Summit. By organizing webinar events such as “Cooperation Between Japan and Türkiye For Economic Recovery From Covıd-19”, “Türkiye and Bangladesh: A New Era in Investment & Trade”, “Renewable Energy in New Zealand and Türkiye: Challenges, Opportunities and Best Practices”, “Doing Business in Japan: Understanding Legal Environment”, “Türkiye-Taiwan Electric Vehicle Industry Cooperation Meeting”, “Future Of Agricultural Trade and Food Security: Türkiye & New Zealand”, “China’s Middle East Strategy and Its Economic Reflections on Türkiye”, it touched upon areas such as energy transformation, food safety, investment security, and legislation, and the transformation of supply chains.

In addition to the “Türkiye-Vietnam Sectoral Cooperation” meeting held in cooperation with the Vietnam Embassy in Ankara, the Indonesian parliamentary delegation was hosted, a meeting was held with Arif Alvi, President of Pakistan, and our India and Thailand Business Councils organized events such as Source India and TTBC. Through the initiative of our Taiwan and Pakistan Business Councils, the “Interconnected Business Series” series of events were organized, the “IIT Halal Expo & 7th World Halal Summit – Malaysia Showcase” and the WIEF-Invest Selangor event were attended. Works on cooperation methods have been brought to the agenda in order to inform our business world about the rapidly increasing importance of the Asia-Pacific Region, and the opportunities in the region and to increase their awareness about the region.

A consultation was held on the course of our bilateral relations by holding the Japan-FTA Evaluation Meeting with Hüsnü Dilemre, Director General of International Agreements and EU, of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Turkey, our Bangladesh Business Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Bangladesh of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the rising opportunities between Turkey and India were detailed in Ordu and Trabzon, and Investment Opportunities Seminar was organized in the Lin-Gang Special Trade Zone of China, and the financing opportunities offered by ADB were introduced to the Turkish business world at the event “Opportunities Offered by the Asian Development Bank to Turkish Businesspeople”. Also, our business councils in Australia, China, Philipinnes, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Korea, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, continued their online and in-person meeting series with stakeholder institutions and organizations in order for ensuring the sustainability of trade and investment relations.

Having established under our directorate in August 2020 in order to increase the awareness and effectiveness of the Turkish business world in the ASEAN region by improving our economic cooperation with ASEAN, where our country is the “Sectoral Dialogue Partner”, our ASEAN Working Committee maintained its activities at full speed during this period. Meetings were held with the participation of ASEAN Committee Ankara Ambassadors in order to evaluate cooperation opportunities and to develop our country’s dialogue with ASEAN. In addition, in 2021, the report “China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunities, Risks and Suggestions for Turkey in the Post-Covid-19 Pandemic Period” and Business Guidelines for Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia were completed.

Asia Pacific Business Councils are giving their all to improve trade and investment relations between our country and the countries of the region in line with our Asia Anew vision, and to organize activities in this direction.