Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Attending the opening of the Ağrı Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s new Service building in addition to the TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were, TOBB Board Vice President Faik Yavuz, TOBB Board Members Mustafa Yardımcı, Fahrettin Akyıl, Ağrı National Assembly Representatives, Ağrı Governor Ali Yerlikaya, Ağrı Municipality Director Hasan Arslan, Ağrı TSO President Mehmet Erat and many chamber and exchange presidents.

In his speech, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu praised the vista of unity and solidarity found in Ağrı and stated that all brand cities have moving in unity and solidarity as their common property.  Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “I have seen a wonderful vista here. I feel very proud of it. I travel 320,000 km every year. There are brand cities in Turkey. There is only one truth to their success. If you are one and united, prosperity will come.”

- “We all need each other”

Emphasizing the necessity of everyone getting along, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, “Allah has created none of us perfect. We are all in need of each other and we must get along with each other. We must do this if we wish to be prosperous. Our governor’s very successful and just like our Prime Minister, he is on his senior run.”

- “Take advantage of Mount Ararat”

Pointing out that Mount Ararat presents great opportunities for the region, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated it will be a great avenue of prosperity if it is put on the world tourism map. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “It would be unacceptable if we were unable to market this. If we can’t get anyone to visit Ararat, shame on us. We should be putting Ararat on the world tourism map. I’ve seen the İshak Pasha Palace. It is the first palace to employ central heating. We should be marketing this palace. There is a meteor crater. There are traces of Noah’s Ark. There is a ski resort. These are all very important. We must lay claim to our values.”

- “Livestock and agriculture will earn the most money”

Emphasizing the importance of livestock farming, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that livestock is at a profitable point in Turkey. The TOBB President said, “Three of the ten highest price increases in 2011 were to do with livestock. Migrating from rural to urban areas directs people to consume. The highest profit businesses in the near future will be agriculture and livestock farming. Unfortunately we are not taking advantage of this either.”

- Suggestion of partnerships for prosperity

Stating that the time of small independent businesses is over, Hisarcıklıoğlu drew attention to the importance of partnership culture. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “That is why you must partner up. Those who can’t manage partnerships can’t prosper. Allah says that if there are two partners, I am the third. You can’t grow with small businesses. There are quite significant incentives. They write to me from Ağrı saying, ‘Our businesses are small, there is no capital,’ Then come together, there is no other way.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the Netherlands, equivalent in size to Konya, exports a total of 70 billion Dollars in livestock and agri-goods each year while Turkey, despite its magnificent geography, is stuck at 12 billion Dollars and that this doesn’t reflects full potential.

Stating that there is a log on sale in Ankara for 130 TL, Hisarcıklıoğlu, “You could sell the rocks of this place. It’s called innovation. If you can manage it, sell it, even rocks are worth money.”

- Incentive Law

Thanking the government for the new incentives package, Hisarcıklıoğlu made the following assessments:

“For the first time, we worked together and it is an incentive law which addresses the different needs of each region.

This region is presented with great opportunities. You won’t be discovered just waiting for someone to come along and find out all about you. Kırıkkale did it. Beşir Atalay and Kırıkkale came to Ankara and talked about the advantages of investing in Kırıkkale. You need to go talk wherever you want investment from. First we will promote Ağrı. We will show that there is peace as it is required for investment and industry. We will tell it all over Turkey. We are neighbors with four countries. You need to say that you can market goods to four countries. If you wait here, investors won’t come to Ağrı. We have the leverage to move Ağrı itself.”

- Increase in the number of protested bills

Stating that an increase of 25% has been observed in protested bills in Turkey, Hisarcıklıoğlu also talked about the problems experienced in the economy. Stating that there is a 5% drop in the number of established companies compared to the previous year, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that there is a 14% increase in Ağrı.

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said that their generation took on the 27th largest economy in the world, “Now, we are the 17th. Our goal is to be the 10th in 2023.”

- Other speakers

Also speaking at the ceremony were Ağrı Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mehmet Erat, Municipality Director Hasan Arslan, Ağrı Assembly Representatives Ekrem Çelebi, Mehmet Kerim Yıldız, Fatma Salman Kotan.

- Visit to Governor Yerlikaya

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, along with the other chamber presidents, visited Ağrı Governor Ali Yerlikaya at his office. Praising Yerlikaya’s work, Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked him for the support he’s shown for the private sector.

Governor Yerlikaya said, referring to the new Service Building of the Ağrı TSO, “It is a building befitting Ağrı. He then provided information regarding the Gürbulak TIR park.
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