The Turkish government plans to establish mega industry bases in five regions, each of which is expected to have at least 3,000 hectares of land. Giant investments are expected to significantly reduce the country’s current account deficit, while thousands of jobs are expected to be created.

The Science, Industry and Technology Ministry statement mentioned that the industry bases will focus on the petrochemical industry, which accounts for about 20 percent of Turkey’s total current account deficit. While the petrochemical industry has a global trade volume of $2.2 trillion with China being the global leader in the sector with $125 billion in exports of petrochemical products, Turkey comes in the 14th place, added the statement.

According to a study by the Industry Ministry, Turkey needs large industrial areas with ports of at least 3,000 hectares, especially for the petrochemical industry. In light of that, big industrial zones in the Eastern Black Sea, Western Black Sea, South Marmara, North Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean regions are planned to be established to allow new levels of development in industry and technology.

In a related matter, Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim asserted that promoting domestic and foreign direct investments in Turkey and providing investment opportunities are both among the government’s priorities.

Further, exports in the Turkish lira soared by 118 percent in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year, reaching $8.987 billion, while imports in the same currency rose by 31 percent to $10.282 billion in the same period.