United Nations Development Program (UNDP) head Kemal Dervis said Turkey’s importance in the global arena is growing as time progresses and that the country’s economy is also growing quickly.

Turkey has set a goal to become one of the world’s 10 largest economies by 2023 and," I am optimistic about that” he said.

Dervis responded to reporters’ questions while participating in the opening ceremony of an Istanbul UNDP branch and said Turkey has gained the respect of other countries with its developments in recent years.

On another occasion, at the 16th Quality Congress, co-sponsored by the Turkish Society for Quality (KalDer) and Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) to focus on global competition and global citizenship Dervis said: “If the EU constantly tries to search for identity and handles identity problem with only historical clues, it will never be successful. If the EU desires local governance on a global level and wishes to achieve this without eliminating the nation-states’ function and desires, but through the basis of common projects in a pragmatic way, only then could it achieve success despite all difficulties and Turkey would support such an EU.”

He added that the world has become global, citing that the 1960s world trading volume has reduplicated and that significant developments had been achieved in the service sector.

Role of Developing Countries

Emphasizing that the first seven years of the 21st century had the most rapid growth in respect to the world economy, nearly half of the world’s contemporary growth is being achieved by developing countries.

Noting that despite these kinds of positive effects of globalization, some adverse effects have surfaced. Dervis pointed out that when per capita income of the richest 10 countries and the poorest 10 countries is compared, the ratio, 3 percent in 1820, has increased to 50 percent today.

Chairman of the TUSIAD Arzuhan Dogan Yalcindag said on Tuesday that the global economy is no longer dependent on the US economy and Asian countries will constitute half of the global economy in 20 years time.

Yalcindag said that in the present day the world economy was no longer strictly dependent on the US economy as was the case in the past, adding, “The economy of the developing countries constitute almost half of the global economy.”

Drawing attention to the economic boom in Asian countries, Yalcindag said:

“We estimate that Asian countries will constitute half of the global economy by 2025. The rapid transition in Asian countries prepares an appropriate atmosphere for international capital movements.”

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) head Kemal Dervis