New Investment Move in the Chemical Sector

The umbrella organization of the chemical industry, Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB), held a webinar on the Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program in the Chemical Sector. The webinar shared information about priority products in the chemical, medical device and pharmaceutical sectors and how companies wishing to invest can benefit from available support schemes. A call for the chemical sector is planned for May-June 2021. The Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program webinar in the Chemical Sector was held digitally on 9 March 2021 with the participation of İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister, General Director of Strategic Research and Productivity at the Ministry of Industry and Technology Prof. Dr. İlker Murat Ar and Head of Program Management Department at the Ministry of Industry and Technology Hakan Erten. The webinar was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Technology to inform the sector about chemical, pharmaceutical and medical device products that were published in the Official Gazette on 27 February and included on the priority product list under the Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program. Detailed information was provided to industrialists wishing to benefit from investment support. A total of 281 products in the chemical sector, 46 products in the medical device sector and 82 products in the pharmaceutical sector were added to the priority product list that will receive investment support. Many products from the Turkish Chemical Sector Priority Investment Products Report prepared by İKMİB to prevent imports and increase high value-added product manufacturing are included on this list. A call for chemical, pharmaceutical and medical device products is planned for May-June. Industrialists wishing to make investments must submit their preliminary applications via www.hamle.gov.tr following the call.

Adil Pelister: "Our chemical sector is one of the most important links in the economic chain"

İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister, emphasizing that the chemical sector has maintained its second-place ranking in total exports since 2019, said: "In the process of the global corona pandemic, our country's economy unfortunately also took its share among affected economies. Nevertheless, from a sectoral perspective, we are among the sectors that come closest to our target export figures. In this respect, I express my gratitude to you esteemed public administrators who have not withheld their support in solving our problems for our business world and us. God willing, we will reach our 2021 targets by working together and achieving success together again."  

Pelister: "I hope we will put our Chemistry Technology Center project into operation in the 2022-2023 period"

Pelister, stating that they worked with all their strength during the pandemic to produce and export on one hand while positioning themselves in the new global economic order that would emerge after the pandemic on the other, said: "Our chemical sector, by its nature, is one of the most important links in the economic chain as a sector that contributes to every sector and line of business and provides raw materials and finished goods. Therefore, every scientific, technological and commercial development produced in our chemical sector will add value to our country's economy as a whole. For this reason, we are working with all our strength to implement our Chemistry Technology Center project. I hope we will put it into operation in the 2022-2023 period. As İKMİB, following long and intensive efforts and work, we prepared our 'Turkish Chemical Sector Priority Investment Products' report which will curb imports in our sector and contribute to reducing the country's current account deficit, and submitted it to our relevant ministries. We were delighted that our work, which we believe is essential to contribute to our domestic and national industrial initiative, bore fruit and that many products in our report were included in the category of products to be supported in the Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program through close collaboration with our public authority. We are pleased that our efforts have yielded results and we have no doubt that we will reach better days through further hard work and collective effort. I wish to state that we are aware that the new wave of global growth will pass through the production of innovation-focused and high-technology value-added products and that we will continue our efforts accordingly," he said.  

Prof. İlker Murat Ar: "A total of 919 products have been identified as priority products"

Speaking at the webinar, General Director of Strategic Research and Productivity at the Ministry of Industry and Technology Prof. Dr. İlker Murat Ar said: "Under the Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program, we are holding our first information meeting with İKMİB for our chemical sector. God willing, with the motivation and energy we gain from here, our information meetings for various sectors will continue. We see that there is very strong request, motivation and need among our industrialists. Our industrialists can view, even in draft form, from our website when we will make calls for which sectors in 2021 for products on the priority products list. A total of 919 products from different sectors have been identified as priority. We want to support these value-added or critically important products in medium-high and high technology sectors and projects related to nearly 300 innovative technology areas," he said.

Hakan Erten: "The application and evaluation process is being conducted through the initiative website"

Hakan Erten, Head of Program Management Department at the Ministry of Industry and Technology who made a presentation on the Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program at the webinar, said that the chemical sector has been part of the program from the beginning, the pilot implementation was conducted for the machinery sector, and now the implementation phase has been reached for other sectors including the medium-high and high technology chemical sector. Expressing that the Technology-Driven Industrial Initiative Program is a special program aimed at concentrating support and incentives provided by the Ministry and affiliated/related institutions through a single window to medium-high and high technology sectors for the purpose of increasing value-added production in Turkey, Erten stated: "In Turkey, we aim to increase the production of medium-high and high technology level, high value-added products and products of critical importance for the development of these sectors, which are determined by the Priority Product List Notification according to characteristics, codes or technologies, and in this context to acquire new production opportunities and capabilities for our country. In our 2021 call plan, calls for the chemical, pharmaceutical and medical device product group are planned for May-June 2021. As basic selection criteria for priority products, we evaluate contribution to current account deficit and export potential, product complexity and concentration indices, value added per investment, and forward-backward linkages of products. The product list includes innovative technology areas alongside 12-digit HS codes. Innovative technology areas were created by evaluating leading titles in Ar-Ge activities conducted by TUBITAK and future technologies. Our industrialists can make preliminary applications for priority products and innovative technology areas when calls are made in relevant sectors. The application and evaluation process is conducted through www.hamle.gov.tr. Companies with capital established in Turkey can apply. Sole proprietorships cannot benefit," he explained. In his presentation, Erten covered information about the introduction of the Initiative program, information about the first call for the machinery sector, 2021 call planning, application and evaluation process, support provided under the program, supported example projects and frequently asked questions.