Countries should leave ‘protectionism’ behind: Turkish Deputy PM

ISTANBUL - Anatolia Agency

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan speaks at the Fourth Bosphorus Summit organized by the International Cooperation Platform and hosted by the Turkish Exporters Association in Istanbul. AA photo

One consequence of the recent global economic crisis is protectionism but countries should abandon this tendency, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said during a summit yesterday.

Babacan stated that the free movement of capital, people and products would provide a win-win situation for all countries.

“We are talking about an economic model in the region, where borders don’t make sense anymore. When it is achieved, a total development will form and our region will be safer and more peaceful,” he said, speaking at the Fourth Bosphorus Summit organized by the International Cooperation Platform and hosted by the Turkish Exporters Association in Istanbul. The main topic of the summit is “The Middle East and North Africa in Sustainable Global Competition.”

Babacan added that economic cooperation between countries should be opened, particularly considering the problems in Turkey’s neighboring countries.

“One of the most important results of the latest [economic] crisis is protectionism. Many countries have fallen into the protectionism trap,” Babacan said. He stressed that by looking at countries that had applied protectionism by raising custom walls, putting limits on the free movement of people and launching “incorrect” regulations in their migration policies, it could be seen that “people were damaged.”

Crisis shifts global balances

Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister also said the global economic crisis had changed the course of future decades to come. He stated that unemployment remained a serious problem in developed economies, as millions of people in the world had become unemployed due to the crisis, and there was still no stable and strong recovery in the world even after five years.

Babacan also noted that developing countries’ growth potential was forecast to be lower in the coming periods than in the recent past. Despite this, however, developing countries will still enjoy a higher growth performance rather than developed countries.

The economic gravity in the world is shifting from 50-50 percent to a new period in which developing countries dominate overall, he said, adding that this meant that every country should adapt their regional policies accordingly.

Babacan also stressed that the “sustainability” of growth was very important, adding that officials should be careful to avoid “blockages.”