The World is Going Through a Severe Period
- 22.04.2020
- Archive
All of the world countries are kind of experiencing the shock of a surprise test. The main subject of the test is health. However, Covid-19 is not brining only the health, production and logistics but also the all parameters of the humanity to a challenging test.
We should accept that this crisis that the entire world is going through is very different from the other economical, social and political crises experienced ever. To compare with the recent period, the biggest crises that world has experienced are either political or economical. However, this crisis is different from all.
Covid-19 pandemic put an halt to all wheels of the world within a short period like two months. Countries have withdrawn into themselves. Trade has become impossible. Demand has significantly shrank. Production has lost speed. Why? Because protecting the human life and enabling the daily life to be sustainable have become the most fundamental and prioritized goal.
When we look at the table revealed in the economy, the most important element that we will see will be that: The eeriness of the fragility of the world economy against the pandemic. The signs of recession and deflation are seen for the near future from all institutions and opinion leaders.
Undoubtedly, all of these will cause us to be faced with a large-scaled change. Everything from our social life and production to education and logistics will be different for all of us now. Approaches prioritizing the health of society and living life as a whole will come to the forefront. In this regard, opinions and demands have already started to be expressed in the global scale. Approaches to produce global solutions in collaboration will be respected instead of saying “first me” against global problems.
Our country is being affected by this major-scaled crisis as well. We are fighting against a great pandemic all together and in collaboration through the precautions that we have taken in health, social and economical life. We are experiencing very painful events and losses in this period. However, these days should not be the scene of pessimism. The saying of “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best.” might have been said for the days we are going through nowadays.
When it comes to the situation of us, the industrialists... We have witnessed many dark times so far but we have managed to fight patiently without being defeated by hopelessness and embrace the good days all the time. And I strongly believe that we will act in this way once again and leave this challenging period behind us. We discussed the problems and solutions in detail at joint March-April Assembly meeting we organized in electronic environment because of the coronavirus precautions and TOBB Chambers of Industry Council Meeting that I chaired. On the other hand, we put forward intense efforts to solve the problems of our industrialists by constantly keeping in touch with our government and the relevant public bureaucracy. We have mentioned about such efforts in the following pages of our journal to inform you accordingly.
The health of our employees who carry out production devotedly in our industrial facilities is of crucial importance for us. So, the precautions should be implemented completely and properly. I congratulate all our industrialists and employees who do not lose their enthusiasm to produce under extremely challenging conditions and carry out both export and import activities. They put forward truly admirable efforts.
The biggest virtue of being human is to help, collaborate and share. Along with such values, I hope this challenging period will end soon.
Erdal Bahçıvan
Istanbul Chamber of Industry
Chairman