TIM Supports "Training Cooperation Protocol on Foreign Trade Development"

TIM President İsmail Gülle stated: "To raise Turkey's exports to USD 226 billion in 2023 and USD 350 billion by 2030, we need to mobilize a large number of foreign trade specialists with professional competency. For this reason, we fully support the 'Education Cooperation Protocol on Developing Foreign Trade' signed between our Ministry of Commerce and our Ministry of National Education."

Gülle, noting that they aim to increase the number of exporting companies in Turkey to 200,000 companies from 2023 onwards, stated: "This requires us to train 30,000 first, then 50,000, and by 2030, 100,000 new foreign trade and international trade specialists.

To achieve this goal, we need to complete important work in two fundamental areas. The first is determining and fully implementing 'professional competency' criteria for specialists who will graduate from foreign trade and international trade programs. The second important issue is to take the lead in opening many Foreign Trade Vocational Schools across Turkey, starting from provinces and cities with exports exceeding USD 1 billion, in order to train different-level intermediate, mid-level, and senior-level foreign trade specialists. To meet the need for qualified personnel from foreign trade processes, we fully support the 'Education Cooperation Protocol on Developing Foreign Trade' signed between our Ministry of Commerce and our Ministry of National Education, with the aim that our exports and foreign trade benefit from a large number of new specialists who have very well-defined professional competencies, are strengthened with at least 2, even 3 foreign languages, and have developed themselves well by taking advantage of internship and scholarship opportunities offered by our 90,000 goods and services exporters under TIM and our Exporter Associations, and we are ready to fulfill the duties incumbent upon us for this purpose. As TIM, as also stated in our founding law, for the purpose of "providing assistance to existing educational and training institutions, taking the lead in establishing new ones, and contributing," together with our Ministry of National Education, the Vocational Schools for whose establishment we have taken the lead and contributed, have so far successfully contributed to recruiting young talent in foreign trade and especially export sectors and to building the workforce in the qualifications of our exporting sectors. Particularly, while flying Turkey's flag through our exporters in 223 countries and regions, and conducting effective trade diplomacy on the ground on behalf of Turkey, we need to reinforce our exporters' expertise in their field work and mobilize a large number of foreign trade specialists with professional competency to raise Turkey's exports to USD 226 billion in 2023 and USD 350 billion by 2030.

With our design-focused specialists whom we will train in different fields such as fashion design and industrial design; with our specialists focused on innovation and digitalization in engineering and technical programs, we are determined to also increase Turkey's value-added per kilogram in exports.

In this regard, under the TIM umbrella, we will continue to develop and strengthen our programs at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy, and continue to implement new projects on a 24/7 basis for Turkey's qualified human resources," he expressed his views.