Serap Akkas

Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Development

The State Planning Organization which was founded in 1960 was reorganized as the Ministry of Development in June 2011 with Decree Law No. 641. Ministry of Development of the Republic of Turkey is an expert based organization which plans and guides Turkey's development process in a macro approach and focuses on the coordination of policies and strategy development. Our vision is to be a leader, dynamic and expertised Ministry, which designs and leads the process of Turkish development in a holistic way, focusing on policy and strategy making and coordinating. In order to enable rapid economic, social and cultural development, as well as provide for balanced and sustainable development, the Ministry carries out the following main duties: - To advise the government in determining Turkey's economic, social and cultural development policies - To carry out studies aimed at guiding the public and private sector to bring about new approaches in the economic, social and cultural areas -To prepare, with a dynamic and participatory view, Turkey's main policy documents (including plans, programs and strategy document) for the development process utilizing a holistic and strategic approach -To increase the effectiveness of the implementation of main strategy and policy documents, particularly, of development plans and annual programs -To administer the public investment process in line with development plans, annual programs and strategy documents -To provide for the efficient and effective use of public resources allocated for public investments -To develop policies and strategies to reform and improve the structure and functioning of public organizations in the way necessary for Turkey's economic and social development process -To develop policies towards centralized and local policies and strategies regarding regional development, to increase the level of institutionalization of local authorities, and to guide and coordinate implementation of regional policies