TEPAV Director Sak : "With the performance attained over the last three decades, Turkey became one of the most important economies of the region"

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ANKARA- In the context of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Young Diplomats Training Program, a group of young diplomats from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Greece visited TEPAV.

In his speech, TEPAV Director Prof. Dr. Güven Sak talked about the economic transformation of Turkey, cooperation possibilities at Black Sea, and projects Turkey carries out in the region.

Underlining that Turkey has become one of the most important economies of the region thanks to the performance achieved over the last three decades, Sak maintained that policies in the economic realm have to attach a greater priority to the realities of the region and that the recent change in Turkey's foreign policy must also be considered with this lens. Sak stated that Black Sea basin can gain importance as the transit route of the changing global dynamics and emphasized the economic and political differences across countries member to Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization impeded cooperation. Stating that bilateral and trilateral cooperation possibilities come to fore under such circumstances, Sak said that private sector development will play a key role in taking the opportunities.

After the analysis on the economic development in Turkey and Black Sea basin, Sak gave information on the capacity building projects TEPAV carries out on Silk Road, modernization of border gates, cross-border tourism clusters, free economic zones, and governance.