Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his assessment at the meeting held closed to the press attended by 70 businessmen from Europe's 30 countries, stated that Europeans are very reserved due to the upcoming European Parliament (EP) elections in May and said, “EU relations with Turkey, especially visa issues, Customs Union agreement modernization. We hope that these will be more prominent on the agenda after May.”

Reporting a positive turnaround in perception of Turkey in the European business world, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “As we have seen, the negative outlook has dissipated. Now we have entered the normalization process.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that his European counterparts have requested information from him about the latest situation in Turkey's economy, said, “They are interested to know if there are opportunities. We’ve said that this wheel will roll over the bump in the road, as we say in Turkey. Turkey will accelerate more; our economy will continue to grow. There are great opportunities in Turkey. Come; definitely invest in Turkey.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they have organized intensive meetings in Brussels and a EUROCHAMBRES meeting and said, “TOBB has achieved a first in its history. We were elected to represent the Turkish business community as vice president in 2009. This was a first for EUROCHAMBRES as well as European institutions.”

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu expressing their pleasure in hosting the EUROCHAMBRES Extraordinary Members meeting at the TOBB Brussels Representative Office, said, “Here, we discussed the future of the European business world. There are elections in May. We discussed what the activities of the business world would be in regards to the elections.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Günther Oettinger, Member of the Budget of the European Commission, also participated in the meeting, and stated that they are working together in regards to the future of Europe.

- Göbeklitepe introduced

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the Göbeklitepe promotional stand was established at the TOBB building in Brussels and that they had the opportunity to introduce Göbeklitepe to European businessmen and politicians. “They had not heard of Göbeklitepe. A monument to humanity from circa 10,000 BC. Through beautiful photographs, they had an opportunity to see it. Now they have begun to wonder.”

TOBB Board Vice Chairmen Selçuk Öztürk and Ayhan Zeytinoğlu, Board Members Cengiz Günay, Oğuzhan Sadıkoğlu, Ömer Zeydan, Hakan Ülken and Afyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Hüsnü Serteser also attended the meeting.

Hisarcıklıoğlu met with TOBB ETU students engaged in internships at TOBB Representative Office in Brussels after the meeting and visited Turkey's Permanent Representative to the European Union Mehmet Kemal Bozay.