Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, stated that they’ve convened to improve the investment environment in Turkey for both domestic and foreign investors and companies.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said there can be no wealth, employment or livelihood without investment, “We all want for Turkey to reach its goals, to attract more investment, to be richer. We are stronger together; we know that we can move Turkey forward even further. We started this work in August, a day after Mr. Recep Akdağ was appointed Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for the Investment Environment. We’ve spoken about how important a move it would be to move Turkey up in the Doing Business index. We also wanted this for the Turkish private sector. Under the auspices of the Deputy Prime Minister we have carried out over 1000 hours of work culminating in 2 law regarding the investment environment consisting of 100 odd articles.”

Stating that many unsolvable issues in Turkey have been resolved in 15 years, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that, the simplification of building permits and land processes, changes in the execution-bankruptcy law, one-stop-shop company establishment are all revolutionary work.

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the construction industry has contributed a lot of job opportunities by feeding about 200 sub-sectors and that it is providing employment to thousands of people.

Noting that the construction sector is at the forefront of Turkey’s locomotive industries, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The construction sector accounted for 7.9% of total employment in 2017. Again in 2017, a building licenses for 1.3 million apartments were issued. Solving the problems of this sector is the most important contribution we can make to the economy of our country, to reduce the bureaucracy that our firms have suffered. Before this reform, according to surveys by the World Bank's private sector, 18 procedures were required to get a construction permit in Turkey. Twelve of these 18 procedures were handled by various branches within municipalities. We worked with ministries, municipalities and the World Bank, to determine how we can combine them and shorten procedures. The Deputy Prime Minister and our Ministry of Interior will explain the details of the reform.”

The TOBB President stated that once these reforms reflect onto Turkey it will be possible to reach their goal of entering the top 20 in Doing Business Index.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that construction sector procedures will be greatly facilitated, “Efficiency will increase, energy loss will be prevented. As TOBB, we are very pleased with this process in the last 6 months. Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ, I would like to thank all the political parties that have contributed to the legislation in the past and to the President of the Republic of Turkey and Prime Minister on behalf of the Turkish private sector. May Allah bless these good works. We believe that the most beneficent of people are those who are beneficent unto other. Today, we are enjoying the rightful pride of doing good works for our nation, our government and our entrepreneurs. We will continue to work on behalf of the Turkish private sector in every task our government gives us.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that they are not actually finished, adding, “The support and follow-up of our mayors esteemed are very important in the implementation of these processes in the municipalities. I will follow this matter closely with you, I believe it will do great for progress in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index Report for Turkey. As TOBB, we will work with all other private sector organizations, especially TIM, TÜSİAD, MUSIAD, YASED, DEİK, Contractors' Union and IMKON, and do our part.”

- Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ

Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag stated that the main purpose of today's meeting is improving the ease of doing business in Turkey, as well as metropolitan municipalities’ contribution to this process.

Explaining that the necessary legislative arrangements were made with ongoing communication with municipalities, Akdağ stated that they worked together with the municipalities in carrying out the legislation.

- Other speakers

World Bank Turkey Country Director Johannes Zutt stated that the Turkish government has been making an amazing effort for the improvement of the investment environment in the last few months.

Zutt emphasized that the reforms will be useless unless they are implemented in the private sector and that TOBB has mobilized the private sector to this end.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mevlüt Uysal stated that Turkish contractors, who rank second in the world, are only able to receive construction permits after very long durations in Turkey.

Uysal reported that the 12 of the 18 total transactions needed for construction permits, which needed to be completed via municipalities has been lowered to 5, and that this process has been completed for the most part without any problems