Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attended the ‘Construction Summit Türkiye’ program organized by the Turkish Contractors Association in Ankara. Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat, politicians, diplomats and institution representatives from Asian, African and European countries took part in the program. Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said that production, investment, export and employment-oriented growth continues in Türkiye and said, “When you look at what is happening around us, I would like to express that Türkiye is in a very different position as a country that does not enter into this fire in any way, maintains its stability and always favors peace and diplomacy.”
‘WE RECORDED ANNUAL AVERAGE GROWTH OF 5.3 PERCENT’
Cevdet Yılmaz emphasized that the construction sector has an important and special position in the growth and development process of the economy and said, “On the one hand, it contributes to our growth, on the other hand, the construction sector also makes significant contributions to our anti-inflation program. This sector is a sector with high forward and backward connections. The sector, which activates a very wide value chain from iron and steel to ceramics, from glass to plastic, from contracting to technical consultancy, contributes to production, employment and investments. Approximately percent of our gross domestic product.” 6 of them consist of the construction sector. This rate increases to a higher rate when you consider the direct and indirect effects on other sectors. This is an important performance. While the world grew by 3.5 percent annually, we have such a performance. While our economy grew by 3.6 percent in the same period last year. “It recorded a growth performance of 10.8 percent,” he said.
‘OUR CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS EXPORTS REACHED 35.5 BILLION DOLLARS’
Stating that the sector continues to grow and maintain its momentum in the first quarter of 2026, Yılmaz said that the construction sector has employment opportunities of 2.2 million. Stating that this capacity is also reflected in the international arena, Yılmaz said, “Turkish contracting companies have undertaken a total of nearly 563 billion dollars of projects in 138 countries to date. We are in the second position after China in terms of the number of companies in the list of the world’s largest international contracting companies. There are 45 Turkish companies in the list of the world’s largest 250 international contracting companies, and this clearly shows the level we have reached at the global level. As you know, we have recently made a new regulation on this issue. In a legal package we have recently prepared, we are in the second position after China.” “We have made technical consultancy services completely tax-free. Our aim is to ensure a much faster development in this field and to create a wider area for our industry. Last year, our exports in the building materials sector reached 35.5 billion dollars. This field made a great contribution to our country’s foreign trade. Our building materials sector, which accounts for approximately 13 percent of our total goods exports, strengthens its position in the global market every year with its production capacity, market diversity and high value-added structure.”
‘OUR REGION WILL BE RECONSTRUCTED’
Referring to regional developments, Yılmaz said, “The conflicts between Ukraine and Russia in our north and in the Middle East in our south have greatly affected the economy and humanitarian processes. The recent peace between the USA and Iran is pleasing. The war between Ukraine and Russia has entered its 5th year, and we wish it to end as soon as possible. Wars do not benefit anyone, but bring destruction. We want to see those who build, not those who destroy. We want to see cities being reconstructed and people’s welfare increasing. Therefore, the coming period will be in an environment where wars have ended.” “We believe that reconstruction efforts in our region will accelerate and this will open new perspectives for our sector,” he said.
Emphasizing that new horizontal technologies and artificial intelligence affect the sector, Yılmaz said, “As Turkey, we have placed digital and green transformation at the center of our development strategies. This forms the backbone of our 12th Development Plan. The construction and building ecosystem must also be shaped with the same understanding. We have many opportunities, from the Zengezur Corridor to the Development Road. These routes should also be considered as new energy and digital routes, new trade routes. Wars have produced great economic costs for the countries in the region and for Türkiye, but “Hopefully, we are entering a period in which we will provide much more significant gains in the medium term,” he said.
‘WE ESTIMATE OUR SERVICE EXPORTS TO EXCEED 40 BILLION DOLLARS’
Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat stated that the contracting sector, which is one of the most important areas of the services sector, is the source of 250 sub-sectors and said:
“The services sector is a very important sector in which we reached an export volume of 122.5 billion dollars in services trade last year with our competitive power and reduced our current account deficit to reasonable levels by giving a surplus of 63.5 billion dollars. We are among the top 6 countries in the world with the highest service trade surplus. This year, we estimate that our services exports will exceed 40 billion dollars in the January-May period. In the services sector, especially in tourism revenues, Turkey ranks 4th in the world in terms of the number of tourists and tourism revenues.” Our international contracting sector ranks 2nd in the world and we are especially proud of the project stock reaching a volume of 562 billion dollars with the number of projects in 138 countries. Domestic and international developments in contracting also trigger the construction materials sector and accelerate their growth.
When we look at it, the Commonwealth of Independent States ranks first in Türkiye’s foreign contracting project stock with a rate of 43 percent. Here too, Russia and Turkmenistan share the first two places. Middle Eastern countries come next with a share of 25 percent, and African countries with a share of 18 percent. What is noteworthy is that the share of European countries has also been increasing in recent years. “Last year, European countries rose to first place with a share of 40 percent in the project stocks gained by our contracting sector.”
