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The State’s Tools for Regional Development in Question The 5th Regional Development and Governance Symposium by TEPAV hosted debates on the special economic zones, clustering policy, regional development, and the efficiency of these as tools for regional development.
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28/01/2011 - Viewed 2628 times

ANKARA - The 5th Regional Development and Governance Symposium, with the theme "Governance of Industrial Policy," ended on Friday 28 January 2011 with discussions questioning the tools of the state to ensure regional development.

The second and last day of the symposium, organized by TEPAV and the METU (Middle East Technical University) Unit for Urban and Regional Research, began with evaluations on the problems about the development of organized industrial zones (OIZs) and technopolises as tools of regional industrial policy. The symposium continued with a discussion of "clusters," the incomprehensibility of which prevails as well as the restructuring process of the regional development agencies that were expected to take roles in the clustering policy area in the near future.

 

Impacts are not analyzed; coherence with the region is important

caglar

Delivering a presentation on organized industrial zones (OIZs), TEPAV Economic Policy Analyst Esen Çağlar stated that the zones that came up with services under more integrated and mixed structures were no longer solely "industrial parks." He stressed that the OIZs that spread throughout Turkey in the 1990s had offered employment to 820,000 people and that this figure could have been as high as 1.8 million if the zones had been operated at full capacity. The OIZs had operated for forty years without a relevant law and that work on a legal framework for them was being carried out currently. Çağlar maintained that in the course of the process the difference between incentives for the firms operating in OIZs and other firms had been closing, and maintained that the state had to make a decision on this issue. Stressing that although there was an OIZ in almost every province, there was no sufficient data on the regional effects of these zones. Çağlar said, "Last year the State Planning Organization (SPO) conducted a study. But it is difficult to analyze the impacts since the fundamental objectives of the OIZ regime are not defined." He added that it was important to sustain the burden/interest balance in the relations between the zones and the local stakeholders.

 

tuncer

The President of the Association of OIZs, Hüseyin Kutsi Tuncer, stated that except for those established with political motivations, the OIZs were critical examples of clustering whereas the size of employment they generated was not referred to in the industrial policy document. He also addressed the management problems across OIZs and the lack of supervision with respect to OIZ investments.

 

cilingir

METU Techopolis Board Chairman Prof. Dr. Canan Çilingir stated that although it was not possible to analyze the impacts of the zones due to the lack of sufficient data, the zones had "felt and assumed" benefits to the region. Maintaining that technopolises  neither had been established with the same methods nor provided the same outcomes, she argued that alongside the positive approaches, some defined the technopolises as "advance technology fantasies." She added that while legal regulations that also proposed incentive mechanisms for technopolises were on the Parliament's agenda, incentives were not the only source of attractiveness for technopolises, for which the proximity to researchers was of significant importance.

gursoy

 

Murat Gürsoy, Programme Expert and Consultant from the United Nations' Development Program spoke during the afternoon session on the theme "Clustering Policy and Governance."  Focusing mainly on the conceptual confusion on the clustering issue, Gürsoy stated that since 2001 the debates had not been able to move  forward from the meaning of the concept towards how to ensure competitiveness, and that the position of the state with regard to the clusters remained a matter of curiosity. Gürsoy stressed the need for triggering the process and introducing cluster-friendly subsidies.

 

The State Planning Organization is hopeful about the dialogue established with the agencies

valandova

 

 

Serkan Valandova, Head of the SPO Regional Competitiveness Department, said, "There exists an abundance of strategies. Although we always talk about participation, most of the time we are not content with our performance, either. But we see the opportunity to carry out the policy dialogue properly." He maintained that the Organization soon would  issue a study that would map out the governance structure for clusters.

 

 

hasar

During the symposium, the regional development agencies also shared their experiences. Delivering a speech, Çetin Haşar of the İzmir Development Agency stated that they had been working to design a method to support clusters in the region. Emphasizing that concentration had been identified in 14 sectors, he said,"The research, which included the analysis of timely statistical data and a field study involving interviews with the key actors of the region, revealed that the top two potential sector clusters in industrial air-conditioning and cooling, and in processed fruits and vegetables." He added that the agency was working to prepare roadmaps for the mentioned clusters and that the work of the agency to a large extent was supported by a 38-member clustering committee composed of civil society organizations and universities.

 

yaman

SPO Deputy Undersecretary Ahmet Yaman maintained that the development agencies could not contribute much to the process of designing the new incentive system that had regional and sector dimensions while they were seeking to enable greater contributions by the agencies in the area of special policy design. He said, "the development agencies will undertake important roles in the governance of clustering. The agencies currently are operable and have fulfilled minimum human force requirements. They are preparing regional plans and have initiated the implementation of projects partly due to our push. The plans yet do not meet the standards we expected, but the crucial point is that they have initiated the process. The agencies are now able to extend funds of almost 600 million TL. 7000 project applications were received, and new applications are on their way. A thousand qualified projects currently are being implemented. We have to be cautious to avoid the wasting of funds. A close dialogue is necessary to properly manage the process."

 

Clustering criteria must be set

dedeoglu

Evaluating the discussions, TEPAV Governance Studies Director Emin Dedeoğlu said that the state had given up on being the direct promoter of development and had assumed a role rather to encourage other actors in fulfilling this task; whereas how to accomplish this was not well understood. Dedeoğlu said while the state had tools such as incentives, special zones and the clustering policy, incentives were problematic in terms of their governance and therefore the OIZs could be used as an efficient tool of neither regional development nor governance. The zones were demanded in regions that had a potential and thus the spill-over effect was limited. Emphasizing that the zones could lead to a burden-interest imbalance at the local level, he asked whether clustering could be used as an efficient tool. He maintained that certain criteria must be introduced where if an incentive mechanism would be designed what qualified as a cluster must first be decided.

 

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