DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES EVALUATION MEETING

Development Agencies Evaluation Meeting was held at the Presidential Complex National Library with the participation of Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu

Minister Varank stated that to date, agencies have provided more than 15 billion liras in support to more than 24 thousand development-oriented projects from the public, civil society and private sectors. Noting that they have determined 2022 and 2023 as the focus areas for the agencies on youth employment, Varank said, "We are planning to employ 100 thousand young people in this period, only through our agencies." said.

In his speech here, Varank explained that they determined the regional development approach as one of their main policy areas, and said:

We have two priorities when applying this understanding of regional development, which is an integral part of our national development process. On the one hand, we want to increase the contribution of all our provinces, districts and regions to the national economy by improving their competitiveness. On the other hand, we aim to build a developed Turkey by reducing the development differences between regions.

COMMON BUSINESS PLATFORM: The main actor in this business is the Development Agencies, which are at the service of you, our esteemed local stakeholders, rather than us. It would not be wrong if we define the agencies as a platform for doing business, since they bring together all the stakeholders in their regions with the management and in some places the advisory boards.

CORPORATE MEMORY OF THE LOCAL: We can say that they almost form the institutional memory of the local with their planner and analyst roles. With the financial and technical support they provide, they are the patrons of investors and entrepreneurs in their region. Thanks to these features, agencies became the pioneers of innovative studies and practices in many subjects in a short time.

ROAD MAP: For the first time in our country, regional plans, which are a development road map for regions, were prepared by our agencies. Thousands of quality analysis and strategy studies on different sectors and themes for each region were again put forward by the agencies.

EFFECTIVE PROMOTION: Agencies that bring together public institutions, universities, the private sector and civil society have also contributed to the development of numerous national and international collaborations. They identified the investment opportunities of their regions and effectively promoted them on national and international platforms. They provided comprehensive financial and technical support within the framework of the priorities determined in the regional plans.

ECONOMIC BREAKTHROUGH: Within the framework of this meeting, we will both review our past practices and discuss what the vision of the agencies should be in the upcoming period. As a country, we are in a new economic breakthrough that focuses on investment, production, export and employment. It is obvious that the agencies, which are the leading institutions of their regions, have important duties in this process. Today, we will talk about how we can increase the contributions of the agencies in the new period.

SUPPORT OVER 15 BILLION TL: To date, agencies; It has provided more than 15 billion TL support to more than 24 thousand development-oriented projects from the public, civil society and private sectors. With these supports, they took the initiative to increase the production and export capacities of their regions. In parallel with the technological development and digitalization processes, they have improved the business skills of our people, thus enabling them to participate more actively in economic and social life.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT ON ONE PLATFORM: They broke new ground in this field by combining all government supports under the roof of the www.yatirimadestek.gov.tr ​​platform and making them available to investors. They prepared Pre-Feasibility Reports for investment opportunities that will accelerate the economic development of the provinces and made them available to investors through this platform. Many investors evaluated these pre-feasibility reports and started their investment processes.

COLLABORATIONS WITH MINISTRY: In the last three years, we have implemented important projects and activities that we have carried out with different Ministries, through our development agencies. We have carried out effective works with many ministries, especially the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

WORKING AND PRODUCING YOUTH PROGRAM: With the support of our Ministry of Youth and Sports, we launched the Youth Working and Producing Program in order to contribute to the personal and social development of young people and to provide them with employment opportunities. With this program, which we started for the first time in 2021, we will provide support of approximately 632 million liras to 100 projects in different provinces and districts.

175 FACTORIES: We will employ approximately 65 thousand young people by allocating 175 factory buildings and sports fields for labor-intensive sectors, which we will build with the partnership of municipalities, district governorships and special provincial administrations, to the private sector. The allocation processes of the completed factories have already started. Hopefully this year, we expect all 175 factories to go into production.

EMPLOYMENT OF 100 THOUSAND YOUTH: We have determined 2022 and 2023 as focus areas for agencies in terms of youth employment. In this period, we aim to employ 100 thousand young people only through our agencies. The young people who produce and work, led by our Ministry of Youth and Sports, will make great contributions in this regard.

INTERNATIONAL FUND: In addition to central budget facilities, we also benefit from international funds, primarily the European Union. Within the scope of our General Directorate of Development Agencies, we have brought in international funds of approximately 80 million Euros to our regions in the last 2 years. Our development agencies have also used international funds of approximately 300 million Euros in the last 5 years with the projects they have developed.

GREEN GROWTH: We will be more selective about green growth than ever, as the effects of climate change are increasingly felt. Our Honorable President has placed green transformation and green development issues at the center of our country's development agenda. For this reason, we will support this vision in all our activities in the field of regional development.

100 THOUSAND TL INTEREST-FREE SUPPORT: I would like to inform you about KOSGEB's rapid support program for Micro and Small Businesses. On January 3, our President announced the second phase of this program, which prioritizes the employment of young, new graduates and women. We provide 100 thousand liras of interest-free support to businesses that maintain the number of employees in the last 12 months and commit to employ vocational high school or university graduates for at least 12 months.

CALLED TO BUSINESSES: This program, which focuses on employment, was met with great interest. To date, we have received commitments for 53 thousand new employments. We started to make payments to companies. Our President set the target as 75 thousand new jobs. I am calling out to eligible businesses that have not yet applied. Applications will continue until March 31. Come, apply and take advantage of this attractive support.

WE ARE IN A STRONG PERIOD

Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu mentioned what has been done in the field of production and noted that Central Anatolia will be the production center. Soylu said, “Don't worry, we are in a stronger period than we have ever been in our history. We are in the period when our infrastructure is at its strongest. We are in a period when the West's own head is tingling with 'what are we going to do', and its target and direction are certain.” made its assessment.

SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL POLICY

Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu pointed out that Turkey's struggle for development and the production and investment required for this development is everyone's duty, without discrimination, and said, “We have signed important cooperation with institutions and organizations. As the Ministry, we see ourselves as responsible and responsible for Turkey's struggle. We are mobilizing all our means to support the national policy. We also appreciate the efforts of our Development Agencies to touch and guide everyone.” used the phrases.

POTENTIAL OF ALL REGIONS

Barış Yeniceri, General Manager of Development Agencies of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, stated that development is a multidimensional and multi-sectoral concept, and that they develop strategies specific to each region and sector, and that the potential of all regions is realized with these studies.

COOPERATION PROTOCOL SIGNED

After the speeches, the cooperation protocol between the General Directorate of Development Agencies and TÜBİTAK SAGE on the establishment of the "Development Agencies Personnel Performance Evaluation System" was signed by Yeniceri and TÜBİTAK SAGE Institute Director Gürcan Okumuş.