Turkey will pay attention to structural reforms when it takes over the G20 presidency on Dec. 1 this year, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Tuesday.
Addressing the Turkish-Japanese Business Forum in Istanbul that was held to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Babacan said, "we care about close cooperation between the business world and the G20."
He said the world economy was expected to grow by two percent in the next five years if the G20’s 19 member states and the EU delivered on their economic reform promises.
He said that growth in real economy and employment could be achieved through investing in the private sector.
He highlighted Turkey's economic growth which was at nine percent even after the 2009 economic crisis. Babacan credited this growth to the private sector.
He stressed that structural reforms were very important for economic growth, which could not be achieved solely through fiscal or monetary policy reform by the G20 countries.
According to Babacan, Turkey's national income has reached $822 billion; also, national income by purchasing power parity is now over $19,000.
"The World Bank categorizes Turkey’s national income at upper middle income level and we need $2,000 more to become a country of high income," he said.
Babacan said Japan's economic growth declined to negative during the last two quarters and said the solution there too was structural reform.
Babacan said Turkey was interested in a free trade agreement with Japan.
Japan’s ambassador to Turkey, Yutaka Yokoi, said Japanese companies were increasingly looking for investment opportunities in the Turkish market.
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