President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered important remarks during the Istanbul Energy Forum held at the Istanbul Congress Center.
Key highlights from Erdoğan’s speech:
“Türkiye’s goal is to be among the top 3 in renewable energy in Europe, and the top 9 in the world by 2025.
Türkiye has the potential to become one of the world’s leading energy trade hubs with 7 natural gas pipelines, 2 floating LNG terminals, and 15 entry points.
Without valuing humanity and the environment, the global economy cannot prosper, energy security cannot be ensured, and world peace cannot be achieved.
Türkiye is one of the countries that best navigated the difficult period of the Russia-Ukraine war thanks to the balanced ties it established with both parties.
The Russia-Ukraine war this week passed its 1,000th day, particularly highlighting the risks of dependence on foreign energy sources.
Energy, along with transportation and communication, is the driving force of development. Recent crises in our region have reminded us of the critical importance of energy supply security.
Our European friends experienced firsthand the energy crisis triggered by the war and faced serious challenges.
Ensuring energy supply security requires constant preparedness. We place great importance on achieving sustainability in energy and alleviating the pressure that energy costs impose on our economy. Let me share last year’s energy bill with you: our petroleum imports reached 49 million tons, and natural gas imports reached 50 billion cubic meters. The amount we paid totaled $70 billion. This energy bill is the largest contributor to our trade deficit.
Sustaining development with such an import burden is no small feat, but Türkiye has demonstrated its resilience. Despite challenges in our region and the global economy, we continue to grow steadily. As Türkiye’s economy grows and our population increases, our energy consumption also rises.
We are making every effort to fully leverage our country’s potential in all areas. In energy, we are confidently moving forward. No matter what anyone says, we are determined not to rely on others in any sector. We will not step back from this commitment.
We are working intensely to bring the opportunities we have in the mining sector into our economy. The volume of the mining sector has grown more than fourfold to 270 billion liras. Our mining exports have increased sevenfold. We hold 73% of the world’s boron reserves. In gold mining, we are conducting exploration activities not only in our country but also abroad.
In Eskişehir’s Beylikova district, we discovered the world’s largest rare earth element reserves.”