11. Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül'ün Şanhay Forumu'nda Yaptıkları Açılış Konuşması

Distinguished Chairman Xu

Esteemed Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank you for the kind invitation and the warm hospitality.

It is always a pleasure to be back in China and the trend setting, ever dynamic Shanghai.

I commend the organizers and the Fudan University for the most fitting theme of "Asia and the world: New Impetus New Structures and New Order".

Current global research amply demonstrates widespread concern about the future of the global order. Since the end of the World War I, generations have been talking about establishment of new world order in one form or another.

The League of Nations was the by product of this line of thinking in the post WW I.

World War II gave us the United Nations and the Bretton Woods system. And, I recall vividly, the last time when we were talking about the "new world order" it was shortly after the collapse of the Berlin Wall which heralded the end of the Cold War.

During that momentous period there was certain optimism in the air.

While a wide spread redefinition process was in full motion, the prevailing mindset was to over look the significance and the necessity of number of countries which have always played a critical and strategic role in and beyond their geography.

At the opposite ends of Asia one was Turkey and other one was the People's Republic of China (PRC).

In the ensuing years after the euphoria had subsided the challenges that have emerged proved that the "new order" once again lacked addressing the expectations of the current times.

In this respect we see a certain pattern for the past three successive "new world orders", which have come with 27, 47 and 25 year intervals.

What was common among them?

From the Turkish perspective one striking feature was that they were shaped by the victors of all three wars.

Obviously one may win a war.

But that does not necessarily guarantee a lasting system which sustains its privileged position.

The existing conditions show that we are through very vexing period once again.

And this time around, conversely countries like Turkey and China have a say in the matter.

No doubt this constitutes a unique opportunity and a great responsibility which neither us nor any other emerging nation can afford to miss.

Esteemed participants,

As a concrete example, our two countries have made their significant contributions to the 2015 United Nations General Assembly resolution (A/Res/70/1) which defined the challenges and the goals under the heading of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This extensive work primarily points to the aspects requiring our immediate and undivided attention for a better and predictable future where inclusiveness and consensus building should supersede.

When we analyze the situation from a narrower perspective we notice that the great majority of the think tanks list the following ten global challenges as the most daunting:

•preventing and responding to inter-state and intra-state conflicts,

•fight against terrorism,

•preventing nuclear proliferation,

•better cyber governance,

•mitigating climate change;

•ensuring development;

•promoting global health;

•expanding global economy; and trade.

The fundamental question is; how are we going to tackle these most pending issues?

Common vision of our two countries is to help end conflicts, prevent new ones from occurring and foster development and peace.

China, as one of the founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Turkey, as the country that had initiated the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, have been putting needed emphasis on the utility of finding regional solutions to regional issues with global implications.

At this juncture I wish to share briefly Turkey's perspective on the SCO.

We consider the SCO as an important and vital organization in Asia.

Turkey has deep-rooted and extensive relations with many of the member and observer states of the SCO.

As a Dialogue Partner, Turkey would like to further consolidate its cooperation with the SCO on an institutional basis, in areas such as regional security, combating terrorism, narcotics trafficking and organized crimes.

We have assumed the SCO Energy Club Presidency for 2017 and we consider this as an important step in deepening our relations with the organization.

Turkey is of the opinion that the SCO should not be portrayed as an anti-Western or anti-NATO organization.

Our ambition to develop relations with SCO is not a threat or challenge directed against our Euro-Atlantic partners. On the contrary it is another effort to bridge the trust gap between continents.

Distinguished participants,

I believe it would be fair to say that number of the challenges I have enlisted are formidable beyond any country’s capacity or capability regardless of its size, economic, political or military power.

Especially economic issues, climate change, terrorism, cyber security stand out as such.

In this direction both Turkey and China from their respective regions put considerable emphasis on eliminating vulnerabilities from the very start, by addressing the root causes.

There is no doubt that weak states, weak humanitarian and economic development, and geopolitical vacuums of power lead to conflict, radicalization and more frequently to act of terror in wide geography transcending borders.

Against this powerful current, both Turkey and China in the recent past, developed beyond the comprehension of the international community.

It is no coincidence that China and Turkey have shared the first two spot for the fastest growing economies in the last decade.

On the other hand, both countries are deepening their relationship with Middle East and Africa also with the aim of alleviating structural problems and helping the Least Developing Countries (LDC) in their efforts to overcome their difficult infrastructure challenges.

Both countries’ technical assistance programs are remarkable. Both countries are also major donors to release the pain of the poor countries and stand out as sources of stability in their respective regions.

Although Turkey and China are among the top of the middle income countries, we are still developing and there is a long way to go. Therefore, stability and security in our region and the whole world should be our main priority.

We have to continue thinking about building resilient societies. Empowering women should be a top priority.

For the protection of our environment, our countries are resolutely working to increase the percentage of the renewables in our energy basket. But we still need to do more on that front to meet the COP 21 criterions.

On the economic side, we diligently attended the long-neglected structural economic and social problems. We are both investing heavily for infrastructure building. Although our countries are determined not to be the victims of a digital divide and by over 50% of our populations using internet, we have to strive to turn our societies into more information and more innovation driven realms.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

•Regarding the tendencies towards ‘deglobalization`, I would like to underline the following points:

- It is true that the world is currently experiencing the longest period of trade stagnation in 70 years and foreign direct investment flows have significantly decreased.

- It is also true that slow growth, high unemployment, and rising income inequality since the global financial crisis have fueled the discontent about the globalization.

- But we should not forget that trade, openness, and global cooperation helped build an era of unprecedented prosperity during the last couple of decades. For instance, two cases in the recent past namely “Rise of China” and “Africa Rising” are significantly helped and supported by the globalization and integration.

- Hence, I strongly believe that policymakers all over the world must focus on how to address and limit the harms of globalization rather than trying to reverse it.

- Moreover, many of the domestic issues have strong interactions with and influenced by regional or global factors. In other words, in today`s world, it is almost impossible to solve domestic policy challenges without strong cooperation at regional and global cooperation level.

- In this regard, I highly welcome China`s open and supportive approach towards global cooperation on many international issues. I strongly believe that the efforts to strengthen the cooperation between China and important regions of the world such as Europe in general and Eastern Europe in particular will significantly contribute to boost the global growth, trade and investment.

- I am also very pleased to see that relations between Turkey and China have been improving significantly in recent years both in the political and economic fields. Following several high level visits between two countries including my own state visit as the President of the Republic of Turkey in 2009, Turkey-China relations have taken on a new dimension. Bilateral trade, which was only 1 billion USD in 2000, has constantly expanded and reached around 28 billion USD. China has thereby become Turkey’s second largest trading partner as of 2016.Our investment cooperation is improving as well. China’s contribution to various infrastructure projects in Turkey is increasing day by day. Moreover, our companies undertake joint projects in third countries.

- An important agenda item in the context of reforming the international Monetary System is to increase the use of local currencies in trade and other international transactions. This is important to reduce the costs in international trade, to reduce the sensitivities against the reserve currencies and better manage the risks in international transactions. I am glad to see that China and Turkey recognized the importance of this issue, signed a swap agreement between their central banks and showed visible progress in this area.

Distinguished Participants,

As G20 Chairman in 2015 we put particular emphasis on inclusivity.

On the political front, we pushed for all embracing governance and institution-building.

I would like to also underscore that China with its G-20 goals in 2016 ensured continuity and played a critical role in promoting the ideas that emerging countries held for a reliable future.

Turkey and China share the same vision of a stronger international community and a stable and prosperous neighborhood.

Both Turkey and China want peace, stability and prosperity to prevail in their region and beyond.

Turkey’s policy is shaped by the principles of promoting regional ownership and inclusiveness.

We continue to actively participate and support regional cooperation schemes.

The aim is to contribute to regional peace and stability whether it would be through OSCE, BSEC, ASEAN or SCO. Turkey seeks a common future with the countries of the region within the EU and NATO as well.

In this vein, Chinese President Xi's initiative of “One belt One way” is warmly embraced by Turkey.

I also want to remind you that Turkey has many infrastructure projects to connect Europe to Central Asia by railways and express roads. “Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan Railway Project”, foundation of which was laid by three presidents during my term in 2008, is about to be completed later this year. It is one of the significant steps to connect Europe to Central Asia.

Esteemed audience,

On terrorism, this scourge can only be addressed through effective international cooperation and solidarity.

As two countries which have suffered enormously from act of terrorism we are critical. We have this unique position because the world seems divided and perplexed. Is it not worrisome that as the members of the international community we still do not have a commonly accepted definition of terrorism?

And the terrorists have the propensity to abuse legal loopholes, political uncertainties and taking full advantage of the comforts that we have tirelessly created for our citizens.

In order to eradicate terrorism, we need to fight all terrorist organizations without discrimination and with unwavering resolve.

We should not forget that whatever their name may be, all terrorists are united by the same sinister and dastardly methods.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Before I conclude, I wish to point out that the biggest opportunity in our region is our like-mindedness and our resolute drive for better future.

I am a realist, I know that we would not be able to eliminate all the problems in the world.

However, we can not afford to lose sight that we have to persevere with all encompassing mindset and a new world order which relies on the unique historic, social, economic and political experiences of all the stake holders.

I am confident that if the new world order takes all the regional as well as global exigencies into consideration then and only then we can speak of a system upheld by everyone and preserved beyond the 21st century.

Xie xie