Bilkent University to Collaborate With Customs and Trade Ministry
Photographs by Aydın Ramazanoğlu
On April 29, Rector Abdullah Atalar and Customs and Trade Ministry Undersecretary Ziya Altunyaldız signed an agreement, entitled "A Collaborative Protocol between the Customs and Trade Ministry and Bilkent University with Regard to Conducting Scientific Research and Studies." The signing ceremony took place in Mithat Çoruh Conference Hall at Bilkent.
The ceremony started with Prof. Atalar's welcoming remarks, in which he noted that this protocol will enable academic support for exploring the wealth of data on trade to be strengthened, while also allowing for graduate and institutional training to take place. Mr. Altunyaldız, who spoke next, reiterated the importance of the collaboration. He emphasized the institutional capacity-building role it will play, and its potential to advance the production of systemic policy notes.
Following these speeches, Assoc. Prof. Selin Sayek Böke, chair of the Department of Economics, presented the details of the protocol and outlined the significant contributions it is expected to provide for both institutions, as well as for Turkey.
The protocol aims to enhance university-public institution collaboration and create new mechanisms that will allow for increased scholarly activities and economic policy analysis that will contribute to policy formulation with regard to trade issues. These collaborative efforts are expected to contribute significantly to Turkey's ability to achieve its 2023 economic targets, which include: becoming the 10th largest economy in the world; increasing its export level to 500 billion US dollars; and increasing the share of R&D spending to 3 percent of GDP.
Collaboration will take place in both research-related and education activities. The collaborative research projects will have the purpose of contributing to Turkey's economic strategy for attaining the 2023 economic goals. The first of these projects has been funded by TÜBİTAK. Entitled "The Crisis Anatomy of Turkey's Foreign Trade," it will be completed by a research team including Assoc. Prof. Böke and Asst. Prof. Banu Demir Pakel from the Bilkent Department of Economics and researchers from the Customs and Trade Ministry. The protocol will lead to a research platform that will allow researchers from both institutions to co-produce policy notes. The platform also will bring together researchers from all over the world during annual trade workshops and seminar series. Finally, in the area of education, the collaboration will enable graduate students of the Department of Economics to become involved in academic projects concerning trade.