ANKARA
By Feyza Susal
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is set to announce details of an extensive plan to introduce wide-ranging "structural reforms" across the country.
"We will act upon the principle that Turkey needs structural reforms," Davutoglu told his Justice and Development Party's parliamentary group meeting Tuesday.
The prime minister is scheduled to announce in detail Thursday the first nine areas of an extensive action plan called the 'program on structural transformation in economy,’ which will introduce reforms in sectors ranging from trade and energy to health.
In his speech, Davutoglu named nine areas on which the deputy prime minister responsible for economy, Ali Babacan, submitted reports to yesterday's Cabinet meeting.
Davutoglu said the first item on the program would be a strategic plan to reduce import dependency by 2018 so as to boost the real economy at home.
Innovation and R&D will be the second area of the transformation package, which will bring in commercialization of principal technology fields.
The premier stated that the third area will be technology development through public procurement and domestic production.
The fourth and fifth programs will be on energy production, focusing on domestic resources and improving energy efficiency.
The extensive structural transformation program will also introduce efforts to promote the efficient use of water in agriculture in order to mount an effective challenge against climate change, said Davutoglu.
He said the seventh program would be structural transformation in the health sector, along with a further action plan aimed at enhancing health tourism.
The last area of the nine programs to be revealed Thursday is a planned transformation from transportation to logistics.
The overall program has 25 areas of priority and steps as a precaution against possible risks the Turkish economy will face in the future, Labor Minister Faruk Celik said previously.
Celik also stated that the transformation program would include more than 1,200 measures, solutions and reforms.
"In view of the global economic outlook, Turkey is taking measures well in advance so as not to suffer its effects," he had said.
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