IE School of Global and Public Affairs hosted the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey at the IE Tower

Mustafa Şentop, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, visited IE Tower, the new vertical, technological and sustainable campus of IE University in Madrid. He met Manuel Muñiz, Provost of IE University and Dean of IE School of Global and Public Affairs (GPA).

At IE Tower Mustafa Şentop discussed with Manuel Muñiz and the school´s faculty global politics, Turkey’s relations with the European Union, Covid19, the post-pandemic world and others.

The Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey highlighted that the world is experiencing a paradigm shift, a substantial change. “Many important matters are now on the table and have to be addressed immediately. One of the most important changes that we have seen is the relationship between government and the citizenry. Each has its own responsibility: the state, and the citizenry. We are also seeing another important change: digitalization, the internet, social networks, and all the factors related to this,” he said.

Mustafa Şentop talked about how his country see the international scene developing. He noted that we are witnessing a change in the world’s logistical centres, and this will undoubtedly have a big international impact. “Before the pandemic, the industrial production was much more internationalized, but now, we are increasingly looking to operate at the local level. We are increasingly working in electronic environments and this brings with it benefits as well as risks. This also applies to politics and society and culture in general,” he noted.

According to him, information is now much more accessible via electronic means. “This is very important because blocs like the EU and the United States were previously outsourcing the manufacture of secondary goods to the Far East, such as China and other countries, but they have now seen that the supply of things like sanitary material, and notably face masks, are dependent on those countries. Now they know that it is possible and advisable to produce these kinds of secondary goods locally, and as a result, we will see more investment at the local level to produce these kinds of things,” he concluded.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/616795552