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EKONOMİK
FORUM
128
Productivity should be
enhanced in every sector
Key to Development:
Geographical Indication
I
t is becoming more clear day by day that we need to
make changes today in order to increase our per capita
income from 10 thousand to 25 thousand and to get rid
of our middle income trap which we have been into for
7 years.
The solution to this lies outside the simplistic rote fashions
that will clearly not be useful on their own such as believing
that reducing the interest rates would develop the eco-
nomy and investments. It is high time that industrial produ-
ctivity in our country which recently grew through domestic
migration from villages to cities should be enhanced further.
The same situation can be said for the world in general.
Growth can be problematic not only in our country but in
other countries as well. Reducing the interest rate and inc-
reasing the cash situation does not automatically increase
investments or develop the economy. Economies might
not grow after all, even if the interest rate is cancelled out
and made negative.
SELECT NEWS
A
round 3 thousand local products that are
inherited from a 12 thousand-year old
cultural wealth of Anatolia serve as the new
economic leverage. Geographical indication
refers to a name or sign used on certain produ-
cts which corresponds to a specific geograp-
hical location, country, region or origin with its
specific qualities, fame or other features.
As a type of industrial property, geograp-
hical indications decrease research costs
by providing valuable information to their
customers just like brands do. Indicating
both quality and fame, geographical indica-
tions appear as a potential tool to provide
solutions to market failures due to asym-
metric information between the producer
and the consumer. The number of products
with geographical indication in our country,
which was around 110 in 2009 has reached
to 191 today. The function of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges are significant in the
registration of these products for one third
of these 191 products with geographical
indication are registered by Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges.
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu: