Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır stated that they have completed the process regarding the new incentive system with the Ministry of Treasury and Finance and the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, and that they will announce it in the coming weeks.
Following the New GAP Action Plan Consultation and the last Economy Coordination Board (EKK) meeting of this year, the economic management met with journalists and answered questions about the agenda.
In his speech here, Kacır said that they prepared the GAP Action Plan with a very wide stakeholder network and that many projects were largely carried out by stakeholders such as the ministries of Agriculture and Forestry, Energy and Natural Resources, Culture and Tourism.
Emphasizing that they set ambitious targets in the plan with a perspective worthy of the AK Party governments, Kacır said, “1 trillion 40 billion liras of public investment was made in the region during the AK Party governments. Within the scope of the plan, we foresee to invest 496 billion liras in 198 projects until 2028. Thus, 49 thousand liras “In other words, we aim to increase per capita income by approximately 1350 dollars and provide 570 thousand additional jobs, especially in agriculture.” he said.
Kacır stated that with the program, they will transfer 2/3 of the resources allocated here to the 5 main projects of the program.
Pointing out that the first of these is irrigation projects in the region, Kacır continued as follows:
“We have come a long way in large-scale irrigation. A few important investments, especially the Silvan Dam, will be completed in the coming period. 214 billion liras of resources will be transferred to the irrigation program until 2028. We have allocated 64 billion liras to the sensitive transformation program in agriculture, where especially smart agricultural applications will be completed.” There are projects aiming to popularize digitalization in agriculture, GAP Entegre 2.0, which aims to integrate different segments of society, cooperatives, women entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs into development. “The project, the tourism-oriented economic transformation project, and the transformation project in labor-intensive sectors are the other main pillars of the program.”
YOUNG POPULATION WILL BE EMPLOYED IN THE REGION
Kacır stated that the average age has decreased to 23-24 in some cities in the region, and that the plan aims to ensure that Turkey quickly approaches the average development level, and that the young population in the region is employed in the region and continues their lives here.
Kacır, who informed that with this understanding, they established 20 organized industrial zones (OIZs) in 9 cities in the region during the AK Party governments and created more than 360 thousand additional employment in these places, made the following evaluation:
“We give the most advanced investment incentives in Turkey to this region, which we call the 6th Region. In our cities in the 6th level, we do not receive 12 years of insurance premium employer share and 10 years of insurance premium employee share from new investments. This, together with the new minimum wage, amounts to 7 thousand 750 per month for each employee. With the incentive certificates we have issued for more than 15 thousand investments recently, we have encouraged over 1 trillion investments and paved the way for 710 thousand jobs. “As we reach this goal, we will all observe together the process of the region becoming a locomotive of development not only for Turkey but for a wide geography.”
SMEs WILL RECEIVE EMPLOYMENT PAYMENT IN FEBRUARY
Kacır stated that more than 1 million 200 thousand people are currently employed in the ready-made clothing, textile, leather, shoe and furniture sectors and that these are among the important sectors that have brought Turkey to this day in the industrialization process by exporting nearly 37 billion dollars.
Emphasizing that they aim to maintain the competitiveness and production of these sectors, Kacır said:
“For this, we will offer support of up to 2,500 lira per employee through KOSGEB. This will be a very simple program, we do not foresee a detailed program. The main element is that our SMEs maintain the employment level in the last months of 2024. We will provide support to our SMEs who fulfill this commitment. I hope that we will support up to 2 thousand 500 lira for an employee by making monthly payments in these 4 sectors, in branding, design and other sectors. “While R&D capabilities will improve, employment will also be preserved. If our SMEs maintained their employment in January, they will receive the support payment in February.”
NEW INCENTIVE SYSTEM IS ON THE WAY
Kacır pointed out that there are two important tasks in the 2025 agenda and made the following evaluation:
“One is the incentive system. We completed the related process with the Strategy and Budget Directorate and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. Hopefully, we will announce it in the coming weeks. The main approach of the new incentive system is that the labor-intensive sectors, which we observe to be seriously effective in the current incentive system, are strongly concentrated in provinces with young populations. With the Local Development Move Program, the most advanced supports and incentives will be given to investments that will turn the economic potential of each province into value, which we have accelerated especially in recent years. “We will support high-technology, high added value-oriented programs such as the Technology-Focused Industry Move and HIT-30 more effectively in our new incentive system.”
Emphasizing that their goal is to build an incentive system that will make a stronger contribution to Turkey’s development journey with the motto of investment, employment, production and export, Kacır said, “Another important structural reform step is OIZs. Measures will be taken in OIZs to accelerate the meeting of investment places with industrialists.” Our goal is to share the Industrial Areas Master Plan with the public. The share of our existing planned industrial areas in Turkey’s total area is 0.2 percent. “We observe that its share is below 0.4 percent. We need to grow this rapidly.” he said.
Kacır said that they aim to accelerate the establishment processes of OIZs and industrial zones and the meeting of investors and investment locations.
SPECIAL EMPLOYMENT INCENTIVES WILL BE OFFERED TO THE CITY
Stating that they are trying to concretize Turkey’s industrial areas approach for the next 30 years by obtaining very comprehensive data sets from the ministries of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Energy and Natural Resources, Agriculture and Forestry and all stakeholders, Kacır said that they will announce this soon for the Samsun-Adana-Mersin line. reported.
Emphasizing that one of the most important goals here is to establish OIZs integrated with rail systems, Kacır said:
“This is a key priority for us, both in terms of our competitiveness and the European Union’s carbon regulation at the border. In the current system, employment incentives work very effectively, especially in the 6th Region, but in the coming period, we will strengthen this sector-city coupling and ensure that each city carries its own “We will also offer stronger employment incentives for potential. In this way, we will bring to our cities and our country a system in which no one is disadvantaged and everyone can evaluate their own value.”
