TEPAV/Sak :” China and Turkey have a lot to learn from one another” The meeting titled “Comparative Economic Reform Perspectives: China and Turkey” was held at TEPAV.
ANKARA- TEPAV Director Güven Sak noted that Turkey is in need of structural reforms and it will be helpful to learn from the Chinese experience. “With their similar imperial backgrounds and their agrarian traditions, China and Turkey have a lot to learn from one another,” Sak said.
The meeting titled “Comparative Economic Reform Perspectives: China and Turkey” was held on October 5, Monday at TEPAV, focusing on the economic and legislative regulations that China and Turkey have been implementing over the past 40 years within the framework of their transition to free market economies.
The meeting started with an inaugural speech by TEPAV Executive Director Güven Sak and continued with a presentation by China Renmin University Vice President Prof. Wang Liming. Prof. Liming noted during his presentation that the “Chinese Reform Process” that started in 1978 was carried out with the goal to achieve a developed economy and offer equality of opportunity to the Chinese people, adding that the institutional regulations paved the way for a free market economy and initiated the process to equip state-owned enterprises with a public identity. Prof. Liming explained that private enterprise was endorsed within this context, regulations were enacted to protect public and private property and incentives were introduced to attract foreign investments, adding that this chain of reforms were continued with those intended to boost the development of the rural sector by the end of the 20th century. Prof. Liming underlined the fact that some ten thousand new companies are set up in China every day, indicating that this is evidence for the effectiveness of the mentioned reforms.
The meeting continued with a panel moderated by TEPAV Stability Institute Director Süreyya Serdengeçti, with China Renmin University Chongyang Financial Research Institute Dean Wang Wen, China G20 Coordinator Xiaolin Zhou ve Bilkent University Department of Economics Professor Refet Gürkaynak as panellists.
Prof. Gürkaynak said in his speech that one of the primary similarities of the two countries is the relative lack of public coordination, although Turkey is ahead of China in this regard. Prof. Gürkaynak also stressed that middle-income trap is another commonality between the two countries which have already fulfilled their economic potential, and that escaping this trap requires further structural reforms to be pursued.
The meeting closed with questions and comments from the audience.
