Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu met with young people at the BTK Academy Career Summit held at the Information Technologies and Communication Authority. Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu stated that Turkey has significantly completed its infrastructure investments over the last 20 years and that future generations will now focus on technology and innovation to impact the country's production.
The BTK Career Summit hosted Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu on its second day. Karaismailoğlu, who noted that Turkey has made a generational leap in all sectors over the last 20 years and takes pride in this, said, "We have 700,000 colleagues. In these 5 sectors, they are working tirelessly across every region of Turkey to keep our country standing in transportation and communication. I am here as a big brother and spokesperson for my colleagues. Success is a team effort. We are striving to deliver this to our country and nation with our 700,000 colleagues."
Karaismailoğlu stated that as the Ministry, they transport people, cargo, and data, and are working intensively to deliver these to citizens in the fastest, safest, and most comfortable manner.
Karaismailoğlu, drawing attention to Turkey being one of the few countries in the world especially in mobile subscribers, said, “Thanks to this strong infrastructure provided, we are one of the top 20 countries in the world using the internet the most, and in the top 5 in Europe. We are a society highly dependent on internet and informatics. Our duty is extensive. We are working intensively to increase existing capacities and speeds. For this effort, we are in constant communication with our colleagues, the private sector, universities, and civil society organizations. We were at METU this morning. There, we have important collaborations related to the communications sector,” he stated.
Minister Karaismailoğlu: Turkey Being One of the World's Fastest-Growing Countries Is No Coincidence
Pointing out that Turkey being one of the fastest-growing countries is due to its strong infrastructure, Karaismailoğlu said that while there were 8 million vehicles in Turkey 20 years ago, this number has now risen to 26 million.
Karaismailoğlu, noting that traffic congestion is much less than it was 20 years ago, said, "This happened thanks to investments planned with state foresight. If these investments had not been made, Turkey could neither have reached these export figures nor removed all the obstacles in front of this mobility. The easier, safer, and faster you can reach a region, the more you impact its investment, production, and employment. When you make 1 unit of transportation investment in a region, within one year, you contribute 10 times that to production and 6 times to national income. In the last 20 years, we have invested 183 billion dollars. In return, we have contributed 1 trillion dollars to production and 600 billion dollars to national income," he explained.
Karaismailoğlu emphasized that record-breaking export figures and Turkey being one of the world's fastest-growing countries cannot be considered coincidences, and narrated that behind this success lies great effort and dedication.
Minister Karaismailoğlu: The Most Valuable Export Is The One Without Kilograms
Emphasizing that future generations will no longer think about infrastructure and roads, Karaismailoğlu said they will discuss what can be done in technology and innovation and will impact production in this direction.
Stating that the most valuable export is the one without kilograms, Karaismailoğlu said, "This is projects, engineering, software, consultancy, and advisory services. Therefore, we and you will work more in these sectors. With the knowledge and experience gained in Turkey's transportation sectors over the last 20 years, Turkey is now exporting engineering and software to the whole world. These also positively affect our export figures. The number of students at BTK Academy has exceeded 1 million. This is a great success. With the knowledge and experience you gain here, you will make significant contributions to both your own development and that of our country. Informatics and communication are an important part of our lives. The beneficial aspects of this internet and ensuring they do not harm our country and nation, cyber homeland which we call cyber security, is one of our most important issues. Therefore, our expert colleagues at BTK are working on cyber security. Our expert colleagues are protecting our cyber homeland 24/7 like the Blue Homeland and Main Homeland," he said.
Touching on the topic of 5G, Karaismailoğlu concluded his speech by saying, "We will hopefully implement 5G with our domestic and national capabilities. For this reason, we have established an important communications cluster in Ankara. There are important studies in all areas of 5G. 5G will also be an important infrastructure for 6G. Considering the advantages it will bring to industry, production, and healthcare, we have made our plans. There will be important developments in the coming days."