Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB Board Member Zeki Kıvanç stated that they closely follow the developments in the sector and that they communicate the problems first hand to the relevant authorities as TOBB Management, and that they always support the sector.

Council President Onur Fayat expressed his satisfaction with the intensive participation of the Council Members in the first physical meeting held after the pandemic and expressed his thanks to the members. Informing the Council members about the activities carried out since the last meeting of the sector, Fayat stated that although it could not be in physical conditions during the pandemic period, they tried to take the necessary measures for the situation of the sector by closely following the process with the meetings held via video conference method. Emphasizing that it is the biggest advantage of the sector's ability to provide fast supply to its buyers, Council President Fayat pointed out that as an industry, they can outperform competitors with this advantage.

At the meeting, a presentation was made by Council Advisor Dr. Can Fuat Gürlesel, which included sectoral situation assessment accompanied by statistics. In the presentation where export import and production data was shared with the figures of January-October 2021, Gürlesel stated that $16.720 billion worth of apparel exports were made during this period, an increase of 19.7 percent compared to 2020.

Noyan Ciritoğlu, General Manager of the Turkish Trade Center (TTM) in Chicago, who attended the meeting, made a presentation and informed the Council Members about the TTM work.

At the meeting, where current developments in the Garment and Apparel sector were evaluated, Council Members exchanged views on the agenda items. At the meeting, the changes in supply chains and the demand for additional supply to Turkey, developments and needs in the domestic retail sector, the need to comply with the EU Green Deal and border carbon regulation, and the need to establish the circular economic system of the sector were also discussed by the Council Members.