WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE CORONAVIRUS EXPECT ON THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE FIELD AND THE RESULTS THAT MAY CONTAIN? 9 April 2020

While Covid-19, which is a new type of corona virus outbreak announced as a pandemic, shows its effect all over the world and in our country, it is foreseen that the economic parameters will change significantly with the measures introduced in many areas and the changes that occur with these measures. Accordingly, there are debates about what kind of order awaits humanity in the following process.

In addition to the opinions of the experts, opinions are expressed by the public that many changes will take place in the process, and accordingly, the opinions about the change of the world order from the sectorial perspective are gaining importance. In particular, the impact of the new type of corona virus in the field of economy and finance will also create significant changes in terms of supply and demand, and it is important to take necessary measures by evaluating the possible effects in advance in the investments to be made and in addressing the legal dimension of these investments.

Accordingly, it is thought that the scope of performing physical transactions in the eyes of individuals and institutions through virtual means will be accelerated by expanding the capacities of the software that has been established, such as electronic government services etc. In this way, it will be possible for both citizens and institutions to be able to remotely handle the transactions that they have to do before the public institutions through the world. It seems possible to say that the importance given to systems such as e-pulse, which has been in use in our country for a long time, will increase worldwide and investments in software development will be increased. However, with such software, it will be easier to process sensitive data such as diseases, hospital visits, health test results, and as a result of these developments, it will be inevitable to open a new path regarding the protection of personal data.

In addition to the development of this type of software in the presence of the state, it may be common to hold meetings of the general assembly and the board of directors, which should be held within companies, in electronic environment. As a matter of fact, in the announcement regarding the measures to be taken within the scope of preventing the spread of the epidemic, in the current situation, it is recommended that the shareholders, who use the electronic general assembly system and want to hold a general assembly meeting, participate in the general assembly meetings electronically.

Considering that the transactions made from the branch have been reduced and the use of internet banking has become widespread in the internet banking activities that have been carried out until today, it will be possible to increase the R&D studies and capacity in this regard.

With the effect of the developments experienced today, it is envisaged that the steps to be taken especially in the health sector and the investments to be made in the whole world, and the efforts to improve preventive health systems as well as therapeutic health services, and to improve both electronic and physical conditions are envisaged. Indeed, while many countries are struggling with such an epidemic at the same time and the demand for medical devices and materials is so intense in every country, we believe that the sensitivity of countries to meet these needs with their local manufacturers will increase. In addition, in order to meet the basic needs of people, the interest in sectors such as medicine, food and logistics will increase and in case of facing such an epidemic again, the ways of transition to full automation and robotic workforce in production can be sought in order to avoid meeting the basic needs of people. Of course, the other side of this coin can also manifest itself as a shortage of employment, and the policies to be followed in this regard will be of great importance.

On the other hand, another of the sectors that the Covid-19 pandemic we live in is most affected is undoubtedly the tourism sector. Because the first step in the measures taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic is the players in the tourism sector whose activities are restricted. In this process, it is known that many airline companies experienced a serious decrease in their flights. However, while tourism, which is the sector in which the effect is experienced the fastest, can recover after a certain period of time after the epidemic has been fully controlled and the extraordinary process has passed, one of the permanent effects of the crisis we have experienced will be to put the free circulation policy on the agenda under the schengen visa for a while.

In terms of judicial activities; with the increased dispute resolution methods, the burden of litigation in courts has begun to be reduced. With these alternative dispute solutions, it has been paved the way for people from different cities to come together through video conferences in disputes, but with the current epidemic, it has come to the fore that this situation can also be applied for disputes between people in the same city. On the other hand, it will come to the agenda that the hearings can also be realized electronically by making use of the technological developments.

As can be seen, the difficulties experienced with the corona virus epidemic and some restrictions that have been physically brought to the working life have caused the need to carry out the works and processes in the electronic environment as much as possible and to the least extent possible by the human power. As a result of this emerging need; investments to be made by both the state and the private sector will focus on improving the scope of the activities to be carried out electronically, as a result of this, software activities will increase, and investments on logistics, robotics and automation will be accelerated; it is anticipated that the corona virus epidemic, which affects the whole world, can start a new era in the electronic sense worldwide.