2.10 International Cooperation and Events

2.10.1 Relations with International Organizations 

The third meeting of the “OIC-COMCEC Central Banks Forum” within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), for which the CBRT carries out secretarial activities, was held online on 29 September 2021, hosted by the CBRT. At the meeting, the main theme of which was determined as “post-pandemic economic and financial priorities for OIC countries”, the global economic outlook and the economic and financial outlook of the OIC countries were discussed, possible policies were debated by focusing on key priorities and actions required to achieve a strong and sustainable economic environment in OIC countries in the post-pandemic period. In addition, the role that Islamic finance will play in achieving these priorities was discussed in detail.

The 45th meeting of the Central Banks Governors’ Club of Central Asian, Black Sea Region and Balkan Countries (Governors Club), for which the CBRT acts as secretariat, was held online on 8 December 2021 organized by the Central Bank of Russia. Key topics of the meeting were global economic and financial developments, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on economies of member countries, policy measures taken, policy priorities in the recovery process of economies and combating risks related to climate change.

Throughout 2021, the CBRT carried out activities regarding periodic meetings organized by the G20, IMF and BIS, and coordination was established with internal and external stakeholders. In January, as part of the IMF’s duty to monitor the economic and financial policies of member countries and to oversee the international monetary system (Article IV), meetings were held with public and private sector officials of our country. CBRT officials participated in these routine meetings coordinated by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance and contributed to the agenda items.

The CBRT became a member of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) on 14 December 2021 to closely monitor international efforts to identify and mitigate the possible impacts of climate change on the financial system.

2.10.2 Relations with Central Banks

The CBRT continued to seek stronger communication and bilateral cooperation with other central banks, despite the challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, to lay the groundwork for enhanced communication and cooperation in the field of central banking, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Central Bank of Uzbekistan on 2 August 2021; with the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates on 24 November 2021 and with the Central Bank of Turkmenistan on 27 November 2021. With these memorandums of understanding, the number of central banks with which the CBRT officially collaborates reached 37 in 2021.

With a view to encouraging the use of local currencies in international trade and investments as well as supporting financial cooperation, the CBRT has been signing bilateral swap agreements with other central banks. In this regard, the swap agreement between the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), which was renewed in 2019, was revised on 4 June 2021; a swap agreement was signed between the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye and the Bank of Korea on 12 August 2021, and the swap agreement, which was signed between the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye and the Qatar Central Bank, was renewed on 17 September 2021.

The CBRT organized bilateral meetings in order to carry out bilateral communication with other central banks and officials of diplomatic missions in Türkiye at the highest level. In those meetings, which were held face-to-face as far as the pandemic permitted or in the form of online meetings, participants discussed the economic outlook and bilateral cooperation opportunities.

In 2021, within the scope of technical cooperation activities, the CBRT held 73 videoconferences with 32 central banks and a banking institute, and two groups paid study visits to the CBRT. These activities were in the fields of instant payment systems, information technology infrastructure, fintech-digital money, human resources processes, emission processes, data governance and statistics, market operations, macroprudential regulations and inflation dynamics.

Another method that was actively used for technical cooperation due to the coronavirus pandemic was written information requests. Regarding CBRT’s internal projects in 2021, the CBRT requested information on 14 different projects from other central banks  and 10 information requests directed to the CBRT were answered.

2.10.3 Participation in International Working Groups

The working groups in which the CBRT is a member continued their activities throughout 2021. Accordingly, the CBRT:

• Participated in and contributed to the meetings of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) operating under the BIS held via videoconferencing in February, June, September and November.
• Participated in Future of Payments Working Group (FoP), Liquidity Workstream, Cross Border Payments Expansion Workstream, and the Cross Border Payments Messaging Workstream established under Enhancing Cross Border Payments: Building Blocks of a Global Roadmap established by the FSB, the CPMI and other related institutions and standard setting bodies.
• Carried out a Cyber Resilience Assessment (CRA) test procedure based on the methodology developed by the Carnegie Mellon University with the FAST system designated as the critical service activity. The workshops organized throughout the test procedure allowed interactive evaluations and a result report has been issued.
• Carried out studies under Cash Issuance Committee, Banknote Security Committee, Banknote Materials Committee and Manufacturing Process Committee which are technical sub-units of the European Banknote Conference (EBC) established to address banknote printing and cash management issues and which operates with the participation of central banks of European countries and banknote printing plants.
• Participated in online annual meetings of BPS International Users Group comprised of representatives of central banks and banknote printing houses using BPS machines, organized by the German company Giesecke & Devrient on 31 March 2021, 15 April 2021, 9 June 2021, 30 June 2021, 3 November 2021, 10 November 2021, and 18 November 2021. The aim of these meetings was to exchange views and share experiences between BPS users on the functioning of systems and to renew the systems in tandem with technological advances.  
• Participated in online meetings of the K&B Customer Focus Group and the technical sub-group of this group, the Inspection Work Group, on 11 May 2021, 8 September 2021 and 3 November 2021 organized by the Swiss Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions SA, which  is the manufacturer and supplier of most of the machines used in banknote production. The aim of the meetings was to establish technical cooperation and to provide information sharing between banknote printing houses with the machinery, systems and equipment used in banknote production processes. 
• As a member of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG), the CBRT participated in the virtual Plenary Meeting on 2 December 2021. The annual CBCDG Plenary Meetings are attended by the European Banknote Conference delegation presidents of member states and representatives of other countries that are not European Banknote Conference members. At the meetings, the CBCDG activities are explained, decisions are taken and the CBCDG budget is approved.
• Attended Eurostat Task Force Commercial Real Estate Indicators (TF CREI) working group meetings on 16‑17 March 2021 and 27-28 October 2021. As per the recommendations of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) on closing real estate data gaps, the Eurostat Task Force Commercial Real Estate Indicators (TF CREI) working group was established by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC).
• As a bureau member of the OECD, the CBRT attended and contributed to the virtual meetings of the Working Group on International Investment Statistics (WGIIS) on 23-25 March 2021 and 15-17 November 2021, and the Working Party on International Trade in Goods and Trade in Services Statistics (WPTGS) on 6-8 October 2021.
• As for EUROSTAT activities: the CBRT attended the online meetings of the “Balance of Payments Working Group” (BOP WG) comprised of EU member and candidate countries on 27-28 April 2021 and 25-26 November 2021; the “International Trade in Services Statistics Working Group “(ITSS WG) meeting on 1-2 July 2021; the “Travel Workshop on the Use of Credit Cards Data for Compiling Travel Item” on 24 March 2021; the “Seminar on BPM6 Update Guidance Notes” on 30 September 2021; and participated and contributed to the online “Travel Workshop on Payments Data Issues” on 22 November 2021.
• Attended the online Global Final Conference on G20 Data Gaps Initiative of the IMF-FSB on 10 June 2021 and 8-9 December 2021.
• Attended the online meetings of Eurostat Real Estate Price Statistics (REPS) working group on 10-11 June 2021 and 13‑14 September 2021.
• Attended various meetings of the “BIS Group of Experts” working group that was established to update the technical infrastructure of the BIS Data Bank and to build a new data dissemination platform as part of the BIS 2025 Innovation Strategy.
• Attended the “BI Institute Flagship Webinar on Central Bank Policy Mix”- “Strengthening Policy Synergy for Economic Recovery: Lessons Learned and What’s Next?” organized by the Bank of Indonesia on 21- 22 June 2021 and a presentation was made on the “Lessons Learned from Türkiye: Capital Flows Management during COVID-19 Pandemic”.
• In the scope of its support of sustainable finance as a long-term policy, the CBRT participated in the Sustainable Survey working group under the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC), and actively contributed to the writing of the report on the results of the survey; made a presentation on survey results at the 63rd ISI World Statistics Conference held between 11-15 July 2021 and also at the international conference on “Statistics for Sustainable Finance” held between 14-15 September 2021. The report was issued on the BIS website on 17 December 2021.
• Organized an online meeting on “Data Governance & Statistics - Big Data (Technology, Data Sharing and Data Analytics)” in collaboration with the Central Bank of Pakistan on 15 October 2021, at which the big data platform and the projects on the platform were explained.
• Participated in the online Working Party on Financial Statistics meeting of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) on 21-28 October 2021 and a presentation on “COVID-19 Pandemic and Sectoral Financial Accounts in Türkiye” was made. At the meeting, the CBRT representative was elected as a bureau member.
• Participated in the group meeting of the Steering Group for Regional Program of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) held on 2-3 November 2021.
• As of November 2021, the CBRT started to share with the BIS statistics on issue, holding and whom-to-who statistics for debt securities issued by domestic residents in order to fulfill our commitment in the framework of our membership in the G20 Data Gaps Initiative-Working Group on Securities Databases.

2.10.4 Organizations

National Organizations

The CBRT held several meetings in order to explain to the public issues of great interest concerning the Turkish economy:

• Briefing on Inflation Report 2021-I held on 28 January 2021 in Ankara,
• 89th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting held on 30 March 2021 in Ankara,
• Briefing on Inflation Report 2021-II held on 29 April 2021 in Ankara,
• Briefing on Inflation Report 2021-III held on 29 July 2021 in Ankara,
• Briefing on Inflation Report 2021-IV held on 28 October 2021 in Ankara.

International Organizations 

The CBRT attends international platforms to meet economy and finance circles and exchange views. The meetings that the CBRT attended are listed below. Moreover, the CBRT held investor meetings throughout the year.

• “G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting” on 25-26 January, 1-2 April, 15 June, 23 June, 1-2 July, 13-14 September, 7-8 October, 9-10 December 2021,
• “G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting” on 26 February, 7 April, 9-10 July, 13 October 2021,
• “Bimonthly BIS Meeting-Global Economy Meeting” (online) on 11 January, 8 March, 8 May, 21 June, 14 September, 12 November 2021,
• “Bimonthly BIS Meeting-Emerging Markets Economies Meeting” (online) on 12 January, 11 May, 10 September 2021,
• “Bimonthly BIS Meeting-All Governors’ Meeting” (online) on 14 January, 12 March, 14 May, 2 July, 17 September, 15 November 2021,
• “BIS Meeting of Emerging Market Deputy Governors” (online) on 24- 25 February 2021,
• IMF-WB Spring Meetings (online) between 9-12 April 2021,
• BIS “Annual General Meeting” (online) on 29 June 2021,
• “FED Kansas Economic Policy Symposium” (online) on 27 August 2021,
• OIC-COMCEC Central Banks Forum (annual) (online) on 29 September 2021,
• IMF-WB Annual Meetings between 11-17 October 2021 in Washington,
• 45th Governors’ Club Meeting (online) on 8 December 2021,
• Online meetings organized by the FSB throughout the year such as: Plenary meeting, Steering Committee meeting, Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities (SCAV), FSB Regional Consultative Group for MENA (MENA RCG) meeting, Standing Committee on Standards Implementation (SCSI) meeting, Official Sector Steering Group (OSSG) meeting and Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision meeting.

2.10.5. European Union Harmonization Activities

In the scope of Türkiye’s accession process to the European Union (EU), the CBRT continues to contribute to efforts regarding harmonization with the acquis as well as economic dialogue mechanisms between the EU and Türkiye on the issues that fall within its mandate.

Table 2.10.5.1 shows the latest status in the chapters in which the CBRT participated within the framework of membership negotiations started on 3 October 2005 after Türkiye was declared a candidate country.

The CBRT closely monitors the EU acquis in the relevant chapters, carries out harmonization procedures and reports to the Directorate of EU Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile, the economic dialogue between the EU and Türkiye continued in 2021. In this context, within the framework of the evaluation process of the Economic Reform Programs (ERP) submitted by the Western Balkans and Türkiye to the European Commission, the Council of Europe’s Economic and Financial Committee meeting of experts was held online on 27 April 2021 and the Senior Officials Meeting was held online on 6 May 2021. At the meeting, ERPs prepared by EU candidate and potential candidate countries¹ were evaluated. In addition, the Draft Final Conclusion of the Economic and Financial Dialogue Meeting between the EU and the Western Balkans and Türkiye has been brought to the final stage.

The Economic and Financial Dialogue Meeting between the EU and the Western Balkans and Türkiye was held online on 12 July 2021. At the meeting ERPs were evaluated in general, the Final Joint Conclusion was adopted, and views were exchanged on this year’s thematic subject: “The Economic Outlook and Policy Measures Taken to Support Sustainable Inclusive Recovery Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic”.

Meanwhile, the spring and fall meetings of the biannual Economic Forecast for the Candidate Countries were held online on 21 April 2021 and 12 October 2021. The 17th meeting of Subcommittee No. 4 on Economic and Monetary Issues, Capital Movements and Statistics, which is one of the eight subcommittees established with the Türkiye-European Union Association Council Decision dated 11 April 2000, was held online on 23-24 November 2021. The latest developments in the relevant chapters were discussed at the meeting.

¹ Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Türkiye