Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB and PNB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that military and political factors figure prominently in relations today and said that they have declared before that the relations between the USA and Turkey should lean more towards the economic and social aspect.

Stating that the inclusion of Turkey to President Obama’s April 2009 Europe visit and the “model partnership” concept he put forth during his Turkey visit are very positive approaches, Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that the importance put on the economic aspect of bilateral relations by President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is felt at every level of bureaucracy.

“As a result, more concrete steps are being taken each day. The business world is starting to feel each step more tangibly. The Turkey Chapter meeting of PNB is a great example,” said Hisarcıklıoğlu and stated that work regarding the projects announced on March 4th is underway.

“Starting with entrepreneurship, we are sharing our experiences from the economic transformation of Turkey with our neighbors,” stated Hisarcıklıoğlu and said that PNB serves to increase Turkey’s and the Turkish business world’s capacity in the fields of economic opportunity, education, science, technology and transformation as well as transferring Turkey experience and knowledge to neighboring and Islam countries.

“In this sense Turkey and the Turkish private sector are great role models,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said and went on:
“We have started the Chambers Academy program attended by the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation’s 22 member countries’ chamber of commerce and industry secretary generals and high level directors. We will be holding another program in October. We held the PNB Local Organizations Meeting prior to the 2nd Global Entrepreneurship Summit in İstanbul. In addition to Turkey, there was attendance from Algeria, Indonesia, Morocco, Palestine, Pakistan and Tunisia. We organized the Allworld 25 Turkey in cooperation with the Harvard University. Finalists of the competition will be attending a global program with all finalists from all over the world in July.”

- “Entrepreneurship awareness will be introduced in high schools”

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the “My Idea My Business” project aiming to introduce and keep women into the employment market while the “Development of Entrepreneurship in Universities” is also successfully underway.

Stating that TOBB and TÜMSİAD are working together on a project to introduce entrepreneurship awareness in high schools, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “With this project, entrepreneurship clubs will be established in high schools. Young entrepreneurs will be trained through various competitions. Even though only recently formed, PNB Turkey has grown with astounding speed and has signed wide ranging projects. This just goes to show how much we needed this kind of partnership in past years.”

- “120 projects in 10 countries”

PNB Vice President Muhtar Kent stated that the project will provide great contributions to finding the key for growth for societies while the world struggles with economic problems.

Kent said, “Today, we have 120 projects in 10 countries underway. We are an active party to these projects in Turkey, Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan as Coca Cola. We presented the Ministry of Family and Social Policy with the ‘My Idea My Business’ project and were shown support. We will be taking 100 students from Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Jordan to the USA for a month of university education.

As part of the meeting PNB Turkey members will make assessments regarding ongoing projects and exchange ideas regarding the formation of joint projects in the future.
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