What Are the Concepts of the New Period?

We are starting to talk about glocalization more than globalisation now.

During and after the COVID-19 outbreak, we see that many things in our daily and business lives will not be the same, and many topics will be re-established in economic, commercial, and political relationships in the new normal. In fact, we are starting to talk about glocalization more than globalisation now. We are discussing the risks of dependence on a sole source from the concept of scale economy. We again question the place of logistics in our lives, feel the importance of the concept of “accessibility” more than proximity and distance. We live a period when Central Banks starts supporting Investment Credits by leaving their accustomed roles behind.

In this period, as I mentioned several times, we foresee that the winner of this period will be those who could sustain without breaking the “supply chain”, and the keyword of the period will be the “trust”.

As business world representatives, we were talking about the pandemic and the related problems in the beginning, but we are now happy to start focusing on current and future business-related topics.

As we talked about it in our journal, it is an undeniable fact that the trademark of this new order will be digital technology. Adopted to maintain social distance and minimise contact, the remote working model was a great help in maintaining businesses.

As DEIK, we have been sustaining our works in the digital environment from the beginning of the period. On July 29, we presented the first stage of the updated new version of the report we prepared in cooperation with TAIK and BCG, regarding the $100 billion trade target in an online press conference.   And we now operate in 3 strategical areas: America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Our aim is to direct our trade in these important areas…

Our meeting series called “Interconnected Business Series” continues at full speed. In July, we had our Togo, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Azerbaijan, Mozambique, Oman, Jordan, Chile, and Vietnam meetings. We started August with Ukraine, Guinea, and many other countries.

On the other hand, in the online meeting called “DEIK Talks with Trade Consuls: Turkey’s Outstanding Sectors in the New Normal” on July 9, 2020, we came together with over 20 Trade Consuls from Europe.  Dr. Abdullah Çelekçi, Chairman of DEIK Outbound Investments Business Council, made a presentation for the guest Consuls on the sectors that stand out in Turkey after the Covid-19 period. We will continue the “DEIK Talks with Trade Consuls” meeting series after the summer by focusing on sectors.

We have also rolled up the sleeves to minimise the damages suffered by our country’s bread and butter tourism sector due to the pandemic. As DEIK family, we used our trade diplomacy channels in this period and sent a letter to the related Ministers of 21 European countries with restrictive measures by our related Chairpeople of the Business Councils.  In the letter, we pointed out our country’s successful fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and stated that we secured a healthy and pleasant holiday experience for our citizens and international guests. We requested their support for flight clearance to Turkey.

We conducted our DTIK Regional Committee Meetings in July with the attendance of London, Dubai, and Vietnam Ambassadors and Trade Consuls. Then we continued our DTIK Investor Meetings with Bulgaria, France, Australia, and Azerbaijan.

As a part of our July 15, Democracy and National Unity Day commemoration activities, we conducted a webinar called “Turkish Diaspora in The Democracy Fight” with the participation of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and esteemed panellists.

I would like to thank our DEIK family for these and many other organisations that I haven’t been able to mention. We will continue our operations with 146 Business Councils with all our power and patience, without resting on our laurels and letting our guard down.

Chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Nail Olpak,