Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In his speech, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that at the fair they opened online, they brought together the companies that stand out in digitalization with companies and entrepreneurs who want to improve themselves in this regard, and that they aim to create and develop collaborations between them with one-on-one meetings.

Emphasizing that the whole world has entered a very rapid digital transformation process with the pandemic, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We have adapted to many technologies that will take years in a few months. The videoconference that has become an immutable part of our lives today is a good example of this. Traditional trade, on the other hand, is also changing, and E-commerce in particular is gaining momentum. And finally, fairs are also shifting to digital. In 2020, almost all fairs and delegation organizations were cancelled or postponed. At this point, Our Minister of Commerce, Mrs. Ruhsar Pekcan, stepped in and implemented the virtual fair application. It also ensured that our business world adapted to this in the fastest way. Now all our companies can easily display their products and production capacities here.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, who explained that as TOBB, companies are doing many activities to be least affected by the pandemic and digitization, said, “We met with 115,000 members in the webinars we organized in 2020 and discussed digital transformation, R&D and innovation. We introduced nearly 10,000 entrepreneurs to e-commerce with e-commerce trainings and offered e-commerce support packages with the collaborations we developed. We held Turkey Technology Meetings in more than 70 provinces and increased their capacity by scoring the digital score of SMEs. With the 'Smart SME project' that we will launch soon, we will bring our digital transformation services companies together with our SMEs on a single platform.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the new normal from now on is to carry out virtual events in harmony with physical activities, i.e. to have a hybrid structure, “Digital transformation means getting a step ahead in international competition. To promote, market and deliver the product or service in all corners of the world. In this context, we will continue our activities for our members to step into the new normal throughout 2021.”

In this context, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that a total of 100 companies from the technology producing and exporting sectors such as Telecom, Software and E-Commerce participated in the virtual fair, which they opened today with the slogan 'Journey from Traditional to New Normal', “Our participating companies will introduce the applications they have developed for digital transformation to our companies and entrepreneurs in the 2-day fair. In addition, webinars and bilateral meetings will be organized throughout the day, allowing our companies to access the information they will need in the digitalization journey, while potential cooperation opportunities will be evaluated. Hopefully, it will be productive and beneficial for everyone.”

- Trade Minister Pekcan

Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said, “We have ensured that e-commerce is included in our newly issued Product Safety Law.”

Minister Pekcan said that as the Ministry of Commerce, work is also being carried out for the development of e-commerce in an institutional and robust infrastructure in Turkey, “We are increasing the engagement of the e-Commerce Information System, ETBİS, every day. Currently, the number of sites registered with ETBİS is 23,487. Similarly, our e-Commerce Trust Seal application, which we carry out together with TOBB, is ongoing. To date, 22 e-commerce sites have been approved for the Trust Seal. We are continuing our efforts to increase this number. As a very important development in our electronic commerce infrastructure, I would like to underline that our market surveillance and audit activities will also be launched in e-commerce. We have ensured that e-commerce is included in our newly issued Product Safety Law. In this way, the healthy development of electronic commerce can be ensured; we have completed the legal infrastructure of product security in e-commerce in order to ensure that inspections for product safety are carried out in electronic markets as well as in physical markets.”

Minister Pekcan stated that updating the Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union would be of great benefit to the inclusion of the services sector and investments, especially e-commerce, in the Customs Union, said, “Let’s begin this process which serves the shared interests of Turkey and all EU member countries. Let's create new opportunities for our companies at the point of services sector and mutual investments. Undoubtedly, at such a critical time when we are struggling with the effects of the pandemic, new economic openings between Turkey and the EU will bring significant gains to both sides.”