What kind of world awaits us after the global economic crisis? How will the balances of power be changed by the quest for a new financial order and global regulations, striking demographic imbalances, the struggle against climate change and the rapid depletion of resources? Will the international organizations of the Cold War be able to play a concrete role in this process? How influential will Turkey be?
Considering Turkey's perceived need for a fresh vision and perception, TÜSİAD has shaped its work program in the light of all these quesitons. At this threshold in the world after the global crisis, we believe that by taking a step forward with a new action plan, and closing its democratic deficit, Turkey has the ability to take up a position as a leading, prosperous country of considerable power and influence.
As the world reshapes after the global crisis, Turkey needs fresh vision and insight. Turkey will be carried forward by an industrial and services strategy designed to enhance our competitiveness and reduce the unemployment that has become a serious social grievance. As well as this, Turkey must consider the risk that the country will be further affected by global weaknesses as it transforms from a "small open economy" structure to that of a "large open economy". In this context, the place that Turkey takes within the structuring of the G-20 is a matter of strategic importance.
We know that in this era of progress, Turkey has greatly benefitted from TÜSİAD's accumulated experience, knowledge and creative energy and that it will continue to do so.
TÜSİAD, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2011, is continuing its efforts over all these issues with determination and perseverance. With its percipient analysis, the recoomendations that TÜSİAD has presented to public opinion over the past 40 years have often taken the form of road maps for the country. At the time of its foundation TÜSİAD, a great advocate of Turkish democracy and fee enterprise, set priorities in terms of showing the way to integration in a changing world and supporting steps for development that are still relevant in today's agenda. In the context of these priorities, TÜSİAD is striving principally to embrace the competitive market economy with all its interwoven rules and regulations, to reach the contemporary threshold of democracy and to support Turkey's global integration.
Our founders, who gathered on a voluntary private sector basis for the very same principles that remain so important and relevant today, foresaw that Turkey's real agenda and future would be shaped on the foundations of these three pillars. And since that time, however much Turkey develops along the lines of the objectives set out in the Founders' Protocol, the significance of TÜSİAD's mission has remained undimmed. TÜSİAD's work with respect to the continuation of democratic progress, the development of the market economy according to competition rules, and Turkey's integration into the outside world, carry on with the same enthusiasm.
As well as these objectives, the EU membership process is an inseparable part of Turkey's long-term development strategy. As the most important leg of Turkey's globalization process, EU harmonization is of its nature a road map for these issues. The sole role of this road map is to enhance the welfare and living standards of the Turkish people. As TÜSİAD, we believe that Turkey will have the necessary hardware for EU membership in 2014.
Turkey's choices will help to shape the 21st century. As the Turkish business world we are aware of this power. We know that we must use this power to achieve a decent level of welfare and status for our society within the world system, and that we also need to progress this influence. We have the will to achieve this. In order to mobilize all this potential, we have to accelerate reforms and take steps in line with our perceptions of the future of the world. When we have achieved that, no obstacles will remain in our path to becoming one of the leading countries of the 21st century.
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