128 / 132
EKONOMİK
FORUM
128
European Union membership process
key to overcoming middle-income trap
Turkey’s
Source of
Pride:
NATIONAL
PROJECTS
M
iddle-income trap has become a highly popular concept in
recent years. According to all the criteria for the concept,
the Turkish economy is caught in the middle-income trap as its
manufacturing industry and exports comprise mainly low to
medium level technology. The national income per capita has
been standing at around 10 thousand USD over the last 8 years.
For Turkey, the European Union membership process is the key
to overcoming the middle-income trap. Turkey needs to change,
either with the support of the EU’s transformative power or on
its own. No success in the areas of technology and R&D can be
expected without an education system adapted to the zeitgeist.
And without them, it would not be possible to ensure innovation
or produce and export high-technology goods, either. Apparently,
the existing administrative structure is not promising any recovery
in this area. A comprehensive reform in our education system, in
both administrative and content terms, should be our highest
priority if we want to attain these goals.
SELECT NEWS
T
urkey has launched a full scale cam-
paign on land, in air and at sea to re-
ach its 2023 objectives. It launched many
national projects which will be made in
Turkey100%: national passenger planes,
tanks, submarines, satellites, etc. When
these projects are completed by 2023,
Turkey’s leadership in its region will be
cemented, and the power of our army
in its fight against terrorism will be more
than doubled. As these national projects,
which are Turkey’s sources of pride, con-
tinue unwaveringly, private companies
have also intensified their efforts to deliver
these projects in advance.
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu: