TURKEY

OPENING REMARKS BY H.E. Mr binali yildirim
minister of transport
 

Dear Prime Minister,
Secretary General of the ITU,
Guests,
Ministers,
Ladies and gentleman.

I’m greatly honored in welcoming you to Antalya, the pearl of the Meditteranean, here in Turkey for the International Telecommunication Union’s Plenipotentiary Conference. Welcome to our country. You have honored us. This conference is a meeting that occurs each year held by the ITU. We believe that with your grand participation the countries which take a part in the organization will have the opportunity to decide on more healthy solutions and get the best results. This meeting will help maintain the bond between countries and help them to share their experiences. As you well know we have experienced that by sharing one another’s information and communication technologies we achieve a more healthy development.

Dear Prime Minister, Dear Guests,

The fast speed in the developing information and communication technologies will once again make our lives easier and serve the mankind. The information and communication technologies to transform different ideas into collaborations. It helps people and countries to understand one another, to get closer. By this way the information and communication technologies will also help maintain the world peace. The information and communication technologies should also work as a tool to balance the diffeences between regions. By ways of helping provide new talents, it will also help us produce and share the world’s wealth in equal quantities. This means that the information and communication technologies will serve as a medicine which influences us directly. But of course just like any other medicine we should always know how to use it carefully for it may have some side effects if we use it unconsciously. Due to this, a lot depends on the International Telecommunication Union but we certainly are aware that the ITU does its best to provide this. The regulations and the sector of the International Telecommunication Union’s development is being carefully watched throughout the world. These works help people such as us, politicians and policy makers to ease up and fasten their jobs.

Dear Prime Minister, Dear Participants,

We are trying to diminish the discrepancy between countries and regions by maintaining the telecommunication at its highest level. We are trying to maintain the services to provide our citizens here in Turkey with the best possible and equal telecommunication service although there are certain difficulties due tu the geographical conditions. That is the reason why new Technologies are being investigated, the suitable ones are being used, and we are developing new projects for the future. Today in our country the number of people who have subscribed to get a telephone number are about nineteen million. I’m glad to state that the penetration percentage for each household is 100%. It would be good to say here that the people who have subscribed to use mobile phones are now more than fifty million. This means that the number of penetration is a total of 70% of the population. I would like to indicate that during our government leadership this number has improved twice in the mobile telephone sector, within the last three years. Within the ast three years, when we look through the speed of broadband internet in our country we will see that the number of subscribers are now over two and a half million, that means in other words that sixteen million citizens here in our country are able to use the internet. Till the year 2010, our aim is to improve the population by 22% penetration which will bring us to our government’s aim that is it will come up to 60%. In our country the monopoly of the telecommunication sector has come to an end a couple of years ago. To be able to use the internet in every condition and place is a normal result of globalization. Now individuals are able to question the administration by means of the information and telecommunication technologies. In comparison to yesterday, today citizens tend to desire to obtain public services with less cost.

Dear Prime Minister, Dear Participants,

The innovations in the information and telecommunication technologies have become more efficient in our daily lives due to economical and social life standarts. The internet has now helped us to understand the wishes and desires of our citizens in a faster way. By this way the world has become smaller and has eased up our daily life. The internet also helps us to hear different and efficent voices in a more equal media area. This, of course, helps us to understand what our citizens are in need, their problems, their desires in a quick and without intermediater so that we can direct our policies and decisions while the issues are still on the agenda. Thanks to our e-government project, and the use of the technology of informatics, strategical use by the administration, information will provide for our society’s needs, help the citizens and institutions meet one another in the electronical area, will help provide the productivity and the tranparency. As a government we believe that if we provide our citizens with the best solutions for their problems and develop new ways to help resolve their difficulties that they come face to face within or outside of the country, whatever the case we can help them, or at least try to help them, out through their troubles with the help of the internet and its quick links. E-government and e-administration will transform public service into citizen-focused institution and will form the infrastructure of the new model.

Dear Prime Minister, Dear Participants,

Turkey has a dynamic young population which has strong will to use the new Technologies. Our country has educated brain power in technology and software. As being the government we are willing to increase the amount of foreign and local investment in our country. In this field, we strictly recommend international institutions, companies to found research centers make investments and use the state funds. To conclude I wish this congress will be useful. In this congress important decisions will be taken and elections will be made for various positions. Together with our candidate I would like to wish good luck to all of them and welcome again the distinguished guests of this congress.