MÜSİAD, which has embarked on the mission of building Turkey's brand cities, shared the key points of its "Developing Cities with Their Unique Values" project and the roadmap it will follow at a press conference held at the Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus.

MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan explained the strategies and methodologies they are focusing on in this project, which aims to shape Turkey-focused investment strategies: "We will structure Turkey's cities, each with their unique assets and potential for development and growth, with the philosophy of creating city brands. We will determine the asset inventories of these cities and compare the suitable cities with their global counterparts. We will analyze how global counterparts have transformed their assets into high value and what action plans they have implemented to reach this point."

A new era is dawning globally, and the concept of investment, like many other concepts, is undergoing a transformation. "Unfortunately, unless we follow this change closely and establish a sound global investment network, our negative figures in direct investments will trigger a meltdown in our national capital stock," said MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan, emphasizing the importance of embracing the logic of making Turkey the world's investment market and establishing a widespread global investment network. "TURKEY SHOULD ATTRACT MORE INVESTMENT"

Abdurrahman Kaan emphasized that Turkey has suffered a decline in foreign direct investment in recent years, particularly in recent years. He said, “Although 2020 locked down global investment, Turkey is unfortunately not receiving the full benefit of this decline as economic activity and trade reopened, shifting towards developing countries. 70% of global direct investment went to developing countries. Direct investment in Asia reached approximately $476 billion, with China attracting the most direct investment in the world, with $163 billion. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development published its 2020 investment inventory at the beginning of this year. The last time such a decline was seen was in 1990. Global investment decreased by 42%, falling from $1.5 trillion to $859 billion. However, since late 2020 and into 2021, investment has increased its volume towards developing countries. Türkiye is considered to be in the 'Western Asia' region.” According to UNCTAD data, investments in this region fell by 24 percent to $21 billion. Investments in Türkiye, on the other hand, decreased by 19 percent compared to 2019 and unfortunately reached $6.8 billion in 2020. Unfortunately, we are seeing negative figures in the final months of this year. In other words, we are witnessing a significant withdrawal of investors from our country. The first of the two largest investments was made by Yamma Investments, another investment firm managed by London-based investment firms Metric Capital Partners and its local partner Afendis Capital Partners. The other major investment was Qatar's purchase of a 10 percent stake in Borsa Istanbul, which was widely discussed.

THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF THE CITY'S ECONOMY

Türkiye; Kaan stated that the city's geopolitical location, cultural heritage, historical beauties, and outstanding production and export performance in a wide range of sectors, from agriculture and finance to construction and automotive, tourism and telecommunications, as well as cities that contribute added value to the Turkish economy, are also notable for their contributions. According to global research, a city's brand value accelerates the establishment of its economy. The most important criteria in this process are domestic and foreign investments. Kaan stated that the urban economy examines the optimal harmony and outcome between the city, its individuals, and its fundamental characteristics in location selection and other economic, socio-economic, and economic-political decision-making processes by households, companies, and local governments, which combine economics and geography. He continued: "Examining a city's local governments, urban planning, the factors that will form the basis of its branding, the production and marketing processes of these criteria, the reasons why individuals choose to live in that city, and ways to enhance these reasons are among the most important components of the city's economy." "WITH THE 'DEVELOPING CITIES WITH THEIR OWN UNIQUE VALUES' PROJECT, WE ARE COMPARING TURKISH CITIES WITH THEIR GLOBAL EQUIVALENTS AND DEVELOPING EVALUATION CRITERIA."

Abdurrahman Kaan stated that MÜSİAD has devised a special project within the framework of its mission to 'develop cities with their unique values.' He said, "When this entire system is combined with the 'Developing Cities with Their Unique Values' project, which will encourage the production of high value-added assets and capital by leveraging the unique values ​​of regional economies and cities, the 'investment system' is complete. Proper channeling of investment is the second fundamental pillar of the investment networking strategy. This is also...