Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We know that in order to take advantage of this opportunity, infrastructural steps need to be taken in the mid and long term. However, I believe that we can make progress in the short term with training and raising public awareness to this matter.”

A large USA delegation arrived in Turkey in order to develop economic and financial relations between Turkey and the USA. The delegation with Ron Kirk, the Special Trade Representative of the USA President Obama and the USA Acting Trade Minister Rebecca Blank among its members as well as the USA Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone and the USA İstanbul Consul General Scott Kilner met at a business dinner hosted by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu at the İstanbul Four Seasons Hotel.

During his speech at the dinner TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “When Turkish-American relations are mentioned, we always thought of political relations between two friend and allied countries. Unfortunately the economic aspects of these relations were ignored, defined by military and diplomatic terms. We, as the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey have emphasized since 2001 that this situation is sustainable.”

Stating that in a changing world order, economic relations should be the strongest pillar of Turkish-American relations, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We received an answer to these pleas in April 2009, during President Obama’s Turkey state visit. During his visit, the President explained his view of bilateral relations as ‘model partnership’. Afterwards, the importance given to bilateral relations by our President, Prime Minister and the USA State Minister Clinton has been felt throughout all levels of bureaucracy. New platforms have been established. As a result, in the last term more tangible steps were taken. We, the Turkish business world, have felt the effects of these steps with increasing intensity.”

- What is the economic aspect of bilateral relations comprised of?

Stating that they consider bilateral trade relations between Turkey and the USA as being comprised of bilateral trade, bilateral investment, tourism, joint technology development, increasing relations between our entrepreneurs and cooperation in third countries, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they are building their efforts on these primary pillars.

Stating that they have achieved a huge increase in trade volume in terms of bilateral trade in 2011, reaching approximately 20 billion Dollars, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “There has been an increase in exports and imports by 22% and 30% respectively. However the trade volume deficit for Turkey in regard to the USA is growing. Our exports to the USA have decreased relative to our total exports.
In 2001, the share of our exports to the USA in our total export volume was 11%. As of the end of 2011, this rate has fallen to 3.4%. In the meanwhile Turkey increased its total exports from 30 billion Dollars to over 140 billion Dollars. We have come to export over 20,000 goods to 200 countries.

Turkey has performed greatly in recent years. It is the world’s 18th and Europe’s 6th largest economy. Between 2009 and the end of 2011 we created employment for 3.5 million people.
Last year, a national growth of 8.5% was achieved. The most important factor behind this growth was the Turkish private sector. The private sector created 1.3 million jobs in 2011 alone.

The private sector invested total of 155 billion Dollars, with 100 billion Dollars in heavy equipment. Turkey has become the industrial giant of the region between Italy and China. With its well-trained workforce, it has become a country with zero-error production.

We have construction contracts in 93 countries with a total worth of 206 billion Dollars. I believe, therefore, that there is significant potential and opportunity in regards to bilateral trade relations between Turkey and the USA.”

- Infrastructural measures in order to grasp opportunity

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he believes, in order to take advantage of the opportunities , infrastructural steps need to be taken in the mid and long term; however progress can be made in the short term with training and raising public awareness to this matter. Stating that the total investment volume of the USA in Turkey is around 8 billion Dollars, the TOBB President said, “Around 1200 USA firms have invested in Turkey. However the USA’s investments only amount to 5% of all foreign investments in Turkey. It is known that Turkey offers great opportunities for serious investments in the fields of renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, defense industry and real estate. The new incentives system has made investing in Turkey even more attractive. Turkey continually improves itself in regards to improving the investment environment. In the field of tourism Turkey has become the 6th most preferred tourist destination in the world.

The number of tourists from the USA to Turkey reached 762,000 in 2011. This is, of course, a significant figure. However it should be noted that this is equivalent to the figures which correspond roughly to tourists visiting Turkey from a middle sized European country. We must focus on activities which will increase figures in bilateral tourism.”

- Cooperation in entrepreneurship

Pointing out that cooperation in the field of entrepreneurship is beneficial for bilateral relations as much as it is for cooperation in third countries, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu went on:
“In this regard, we are the Turkey chapter of the two important programs, ‘Partners for a New Beginning – PNB and the Global Entrepreneurship Program – GEP’, established by the USA Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As part of PNB we are developing and implementing projects in the fields of entrepreneurship, economic opportunities, changing science and education.

In this regard the working relation we have established with Mrs. Albright we have achieved the inclusion of a large group in Turkey.
We presented our projects, success stories to the USA Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton. We are also continuing to share our experience with other countries as part of the PNB.”

- “The downing of the warplane has deeply saddened us all”

“The region Turkey is situated in requires exchange of information, mutual empathy, shared vision and altruism in relations between Turkey and the USA.
Iran, Iraq and Syria are our neighbors. The smallest instability in these countries will negatively impact our nation’s economy and specifically the economy of our provinces bordering those countries. We, of course, do not want a neighbor with nuclear weaponry. We would prefer that all diplomatic measures be taken to prevent this.

We have been trying to draw attention to the problem unfolding in Syria, trying to potential dangers of the tensions at work.
Thus, the shooting of one of our warplanes in international airspace by Syria has deeply saddened us.”

- “We are distraught by the slaughter of our relatives in Syria”

“In addition, we are distraught by the fact that our relatives are being slaughtered, displaced from their homes, becoming refugees in Syria.
We are also distraught that no solution has been formulated to solve this crisis of humanity. The longer it takes for a solution to be found, the more massacres will take place.

Life must return to normal in Syria. Iraq is one of Turkey’s most important trade partners. Investors from Turkey are contributing significantly to Iraq’s, especially its northern region’s, economy. We are, however, concerned with the political stability of the region. We want stability for all of Iraq and the increase of prosperity for its people.”

- “Turkey has become a dynamic industrial country”

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu drew attention to the transformation of Turkey in the last 30 years from a quiet agricultural country to a dynamic industrial country. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that this transformation is due to 2 primary properties: Opening up to international trade with the policy reforms of 1980 by President Özal and the power of democracy.

Hisarcıklığolu spoke:
“Turkey requires generations in possession of ‘freedom of thought, conscience and wisdom’ in order to avoid the trap of mediocre income.
Hopefully we will create our new constitution by the end of 2012. We are following talks which will alleviate worries about freedoms closely.

We, as TOBB, as the business world, provided our citizens with the opportunity to discuss what kind of constitution they want in 12 provinces and in all regions in organizations akin to the American town hall meetings.
We did this with the participation of the Speaker of the Parliament and the representatives of the four political parties in a specially appointed commission.

We as the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey and DEİK want financial matters to always be central in Turkey-USA relations. To achieve this, we are ready to provide all necessary support to this end as we have done to this day.”

- USA Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone

The USA’s Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone stated that he feels great honor in attending the meeting and thanked TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu for organizing it.

Pointing out that the USA government has to put great importance on the Turkish business world, Ambassador Ricciardone said, “We must further develop our relationship. For the first time in 14 years, a USA Trade Representative is coming here. This is one of the most important visits to date. There are tensions in the region, the reason of which Syria’s unacceptable action. We will bring trade and business at the forefront of these meetings.

USA believes in Turkey’s future. We regard Turkey as a very important trade partner. We will develop this further.
USA Trade Representative of President Obama, Ron Kirk and the USA Acting Minister of Trade Rebecca Blank also made speeches after which they answered questions directed by journalists.
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