The Opening Ceremony of the OECD 2026 Skills Summit was Held

With the attendance of His Excellency President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the participation of Minister of the Labour and Social Security Prof. Dr. Vedat Işıkhan, the opening ceremony of the OECD 2026 Skills Summit was held at the Istanbul Haliç Congress Center.

In his opening remarks at the summit, His Excellency President Erdoğan said: "Our world is undergoing a radical transformation driven by technology and artificial intelligence. While our academics are, of course, conducting a multidimensional evaluation of the gains and losses this transformation brings to humanity, there is one thing we can all see very clearly: It is impossible to stop this wave of change that sweeps everything in its path or to hold it back, but it's up to us to read the change accurately, guide it correctly, and manage it in a sound manner. Beyond that, it's one of the primary duties of us as decision-makers".

His Excellency President Erdoğan emphasized that he believes this summit, which is the solid result of the close collaboration between Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Türkiye and OECD, will provide a strong ground for global dialogue on skills.

Stating that we are living in a world in which finding common solutions to humanity’s shared sufferings is more critical than ever, President Erdoğan added; “We are witnessing that the things are going beyond the ordinary, especially in the field of employment. Ways of production are changing, professions are evolving in parallel with the advancements in technology, while some professions become obsolete, new fields of work are emerging. In this era, it is becoming clear that the quality of human capital will be the determining factor in a nation’s success".

President Erdoğan also noted that he found it very appropriate to set the main theme of the summit as “Unlocking Talent Across Generations”.

President Erdoğan stated that he had high hopes for the summit’s success and expressed wished for the evaluations to be conducted in various sessions to yield beneficial results.

Noting that Türkiye has adopted a strong vision for its skills policies centered on mutual learning and the sharing of experiences, Minister Işıkhan added as follows: “Our future will be determined by our human capital and the skills we equip them with. Today, we have come together here in order to jointly build a future where people of all ages can reach their potential, the opportunities are shared equally across all generations and no one is left behind.”

“We are adopting a skills-based, comprehensive approach aligned with the OECD through our National Employment Strategy”

Pointing out that Türkiye has extensive historical experience in this respect, Minister Işıkhan continued his speech as follows:

“In the 13th century, the ‘Ahilik’ tradition, which originated in Anatolia and blended professional expertise with moral responsibility, has served as the foundation of Turkish society’s approach to craftsmanship and production for centuries. This deep-rooted tradition is based on establishing solid foundations through the master-apprentice relationship, maintaining adaptability by renewing itself in response to changing needs, and creating a sustainable legacy of skills through knowledge passed down from generation to generation. In today's transformation process, spanning from Ahilik to artificial intelligence, the fundamental issue is not merely how skills are developed, but how these skills are shaped on the principles of trust, justice, and responsibility. Türkiye’s skills ecosystem is being built under the leadership of our esteemed President, in capable hands, on a vision that bridges the experiences of the past with the needs of the future. In this regard, we are adopting a skills-based, comprehensive approach in line with the OECD through our National Employment Strategy. Within this framework, we are making efforts to fully leverage our demographic opportunity window and, in particular, to increase employment among women and youth.”

“Through the İş Pozitif Program (Positive Employment Program), We Have Helped Approximately 2 Million Women Become Employed Over the Past Two Years”

Underlining that the increase in women's employment over the past five years has made Türkiye one of the most rapidly progressing countries among OECD members, Işıkhan stated the following: “Through the ‘Positive Employment Program’ that we launched two years ago, which has made significant contributions to this progress, we integrated education, employment, and support mechanisms, and ensured that approximately 2 million women were employed in two years. Through this project, we aimed to ensure long-term employment through incentives, vocational training, and childcare support. Under the leadership of our esteemed President, we launched the ‘Youth’s Era of Production’ (GÜÇ) Program in January, which aims to increase our youth’s earlier and faster participation in qualified employment. We are strengthening this process through İŞKUR’s digitalization steps, the Open Job Map, the Candidate Pool System, and the Artificial Intelligence Matching infrastructure. We aim to establish a proactive, technology-based employment ecosystem focused on skills, through the Skills Inventory approach and occupational standards, and to enable approximately 3 million young people to enter employment and production within three years.”

At the end of his remarks, Minister Işıkhan thanked His Excellency President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Mathias Cormann General Secretary of OECD and his team for their cooperation and contributions, and he wished that the summit would be highly productive.

Following the speeches, Minister Işıkhan presented esteemed President Erdoğan with a commemorative gift, and then a family photo was taken.