"WE MUST EFFECT A STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION IN PRODUCTION AND EXPORTS TOWARDS INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY-INTENSIVE PRODUCTS THAT ARE HIGH IN VALUE ADDED. "
The Istanbul Chamber of Industry held its April meeting on Wednesday, the 25th. The agenda for the meeting was "Assessing our Industry in the Light of Developments in the World and the Turkish Economy". Speaking at the meeting, the Chamber's Board Chairman, C. Tanıl Küçük, drew attention to industry's dwindling share in gross domestic product and the country's widening current account deficit. "Battling the current account deficit is a necessity," said Küçük. "But that battle cannot be won merely by compromising growth. Battling the current account deficit, which is a structural problem, requires structural measures. And heading the list of those measures, as we point out at every opportunity, is effecting a structural change in our production and exports. I said earlier that our industry's share in GDP is dwindling. To counter that problem and confront the current account deficit, we absolutely need to effect a structural change in our production and exports in the direction of information and technology-intensive products that are high in value added. This is something on which almost everyone is agreed. Turning now to the question of how to effect that change, a responsibility falls here on both the private sector and the government and its economic management. Here at the Istanbul Chamber of Industry we are engaged in efforts to support our members and our industry by drawing attention to them through our, now traditional, industry congresses, seminars and educational programs. All private sector efforts aside, however, there is no doubting that when it comes to such big targets as structural change it is the guiding policies of our government's management of the economy that matter the most."
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text and the Chairman's previous remarks at the Assembly