Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

ICC Turkey National Committee’s 61^st General Assembly was held at the TOBB Social Facilities. In his opening speech of the General Assembly, ICC Turkey National Committee and TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu spoke about the failure to achieve stability in the global economy since the 2008 global crisis and said, “While we fix up one side, problems spring up on the other side. While we anticipated improvements with the start of 2015 with the USA beginning to recover, we are now faced with an altogether different picture. The change in the Euro-Dollar exchange rates and the rapid drop in petroleum prices have effected all countries differently. Rising market economies like ours have been effected the worst by these development.”

Speaking in regards to the problems facing the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Russia and China, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “These developments are considered among the most important by the ICC in regards to global trade.” Pointing out declining trade figures, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The pie isn’t growing at a desirable rate. This is inciting protective policies. In just the last year, 4,436 protective policies were identified, 2,999 of which were implemented by G20 countries. In short, we are still on a fluctuating path in regards to global economy.”

- B20 activities

Hisarcıklıoğlu provided information in regards to the activities of B20, the business arm of the G20 lead by Turkey this term, of which he is the Chairman. Reporting that, for the first time, two new taskforces have been established this year to address the issues pertaining to SMEs and Entrepreneurship, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they considered it their duty to ensure that SMEs which form the basis of all economy be better represented in the global arena and, to this end, have established the World SME Forum along with the ICC and the World Chambers Federation.

- ICC’s mission

Also providing information in regards to ICC’s activities, Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that its primary mission is to eliminate conflicting practices throughout the world which present obstacles to trade between countries.

Reporting that many seminars, conferences and trainings have been held in order to acclimate the Turkish business community to the ICC, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that one of the most important services ICC provides to the business world is arbitration. ICC Turkey National Committee and TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that 794 disputes have been relayed to the Arbitration Council of which 494 have been resolved.