IT WOULD BE GREAT IF HEAR THINGS BEFORE OUR HEADQUARTERS: SARGIN

“As they are game changers and injections into the economy, FDIs are what all countries are looking at after the pandemic. One key issue, according to UN statements, is to keep your existing investor retention. Many countries have developed new policies to engage with existing investors. Thus, the framework legislation for investments has been on our agenda for a long time. We brought up the subject in the meeting with President Erdogan last December. The investment framework legislation improves some parts that will make investment environment more predictable. Especially the dispute settlement mechanisms could expedite the legislative process on the commercial side. The other issue we brought up was consultative mechanisms between the government and the private sector, including investors. When legislation is prepared with big changes happening in the economy, it would be great if we could exchange views on that ahead of time, at least it would be great if we had a heads-up so we could hear them before our headquarters. One thing about the future that we think will be a major gate-opener for Turkey is its compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Transfer of data is an issue for all companies in the upcoming period. If we want to keep our investors and help them expand their investments on the digital side or attract new investments, we really want to make sure that we implement international standards in data, both legislatively and with respect to our infrastructure, which is another important task we are working very closely with the Presidency Digital Transformation Office to achieve. We will soon be announcing our report on that too.”