“Services Export Synergy and Cooperation Workshop” held at NG Enjoy Sapanca Hotel.

The “Services Export Synergy and Cooperation Workshop” was held by the Services Exporters’ Association (HİB) on August 27–28, 2022, at NG Enjoy Sapanca Hotel.

The workshop was attended by Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Trade Mehmet Muş, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Governor of Sakarya Çetin Oktay Kaldırım, Services Exporters’ Association President Ahmet Bolat and its Board Members, along with representatives of institutions, organizations, and the Ministry active in this field, as well as academics, in addition to Services Exporters’ Association Board Member, "Tourism Committee" Chair and TÜROB Vice President Hediye Güral Gür, TÜROB Secretary General  İsmail Taşdemir, and TÜROB Board Members Banu Dedeman, Temel Aygün, and Ziya Cihan.

At the workshop’s opening program, Services Exporters’ Association (HİB) President Ahmet Bolat, TİM President Mustafa Gültepe, and Deputy Minister of Trade Rıza Tuna Turagay each delivered a speech on the development of services exports and our country’s short-, medium-, and long-term goals in this regard. Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu, who participated in the subsequent session, stated that, as a Ministry, the country’s very important investments such as transportation and logistics had largely been completed, and that the Ministry was working intensively to increase export revenues.

Minister of Trade Mehmet Muş, who attended the second day of the workshop, emphasized that legislative arrangements to enhance international competitiveness and new decisions suited to current conditions would add strength to the services sector and provide companies with greater competitiveness and freedom of movement in international markets. Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoy, meanwhile, noted that this year’s target of 42 million tourists had been revised to 47 million and tourism revenue to 37 billion dollars, and that the road ahead was quite clear because the necessary infrastructure shortcomings related to tourism had been addressed.

Global services exports, which are expected to reach a volume of 7 trillion dollars by the end of 2022, up from the pre-pandemic level of 6.2 trillion dollars worldwide, comprise important sub-sectors such as logistics, port management, travel, tourism, the education-culture industry, software, healthcare services, and contracting, and make up two-thirds of the global economy. Although our country’s revenue from global services exports is low, it has gained momentum in recent years. The volume of services exports rose from the 62.7 billion dollars recorded in the January–June period of 2019 to 71 billion dollars in the same period of 2022. The target for 2023 has been announced as 130 billion dollars.

At the “Services Export Synergy and Cooperation Workshop,” topics such as making the legislative arrangements requested with the aim of increasing revenues from services exports, developing synergy and cooperation among sectors, organizing informational seminars, enhancing lobbying activities, steps to be taken in the area of human resources, and reducing bureaucracy were evaluated.