Turkey should set priorities to become regional hub: Report

ISTANBUL

Turkey needs to focus on specific sectors to become a hub, a report says.

Turkey’s dreams of becoming a regional hub could be achieved easier by focusing on doing business with similar-cultured countries and prioritized sectors, a new report has suggested.

The study conducted by the International Investors Association of Turkey (YASED) has looked into Turkey’s strengths and weaknesses that could have a positive or negative impact on the country’s bid to become a regional hub.

According to the survey results from YASED member companies, political and economic stability were identified as the key requirements for Turkey, followed by operating conditions and costs.

Based on the findings of figures and surveys, the report sets out a roadmap to follow in order to be successful in its efforts.

“Reachability, cultural similarity and a similar way of doing business were identified as key characteristics for regions that are perceived as ‘easy to manage’ from Turkey,” according to one of most striking findings of the report.

Fragmented Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia have been named as the regions offering the highest potentials for Turkey, while “value-based Western Europe and fast-growing East Asia were perceived as harder to manage,” it said.

The report, however, also warns that the regions perceived as easy to be managed from Turkey accounts for only 10 percent of the global GDP and consists of a number of low volatile and fragmented markets.

As for which sectors require prioritized attention, the report suggests “advanced services, advanced manufacturing and management functions were identified as the highest-likelihood areas for Turkey to become a regional hub across industries.”

The study also reviews Turkey’s potential rivals in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to give a clearer picture of Turkey’s chances to succeed. Some of the cities that Istanbul is facing strong competition from include Baku, Doha, Dubai, Moscow, Vienna and Dublin, it says.