Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, emphasizing that as TOBB, they support the opening of its members to the outside world, said, “In this context, exports of goods and services, joint investments within and outside the country are extremely important. We are striving to bring more direct investment to our country.”

In this context, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the modernization of the Customs Union between Turkey and the EU is an important priority, “Adding agriculture, services and public procurement to the scope of the Customs Union, overcoming the mutual problems encountered in the functioning of the current structure will create new opportunities for the business worlds of Turkey and the EU. Yesterday we were in Brussels in this context. After the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU, the free trade agreement entered into force between Turkey and the United Kingdom also offers important opportunities to our companies.”

Stating that the balanced trade target of 100 billion dollars with the USA is another priority, the TOBB President continued: “Our Trade Center, which continues its activities in Chicago, focuses directly on the realization of this goal. The completion of the Economic Partnership Agreement process between Turkey and Japan is also among our priorities.

As the Turkish business world, we closely follow the negotiations on Indonesia, MERCOSUR, Mexico and similar free trade agreements. Taking advantage of the opportunities provided by the existing free trade agreements with countries such as South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia is also among our priorities.

In this context, with the Memorandum of Understanding we have signed, mutual support will be provided to the organization of trade delegations to and from outside the country. At the same time, the necessary platform will be provided for cooperation between our members. I hope that the agreement will be beneficial for the business world of our country.”

“What we are trying to do is to increase and facilitate trade and investments “

Robin Van Puyenbroeck, Executive Director of Business Development at the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), said that he has been visiting Turkey for the last 30 years and that Turkey is now in a very, very developed state. Puyenbroeck stated that Turkey is a real giant both in terms of industry, manufacturing industry and trade.

Robin Van Puyenbroeck congratulated Hisarcıklıoğlu for all his efforts and said, “You have made very serious efforts both in terms of attracting investments here and taking investments abroad.”

Explaining that the World Trade Centers Association is an international trade organization, Robin Van Puyenbroeck said, “Its purpose is to spread, encourage and facilitate international trade. We also own the World Trade Organization brand. Therefore, we work together with international trade organizations that are members of this network. Thanks to the centers equipped with the latest technology and the latest equipment, which is a product of what is happening in Ankara and Istanbul. In fact, what we are trying to do is to increase and facilitate trade and investments. At the same time, I would like to underline that we are an international trade organization, but that's exactly how we do it. Let me tell you right away, there are about 300 world trade organizations in 100 countries. We are talking about a very diverse group. There is a wide variety of members here. World trade centers are not well known, but in fact world trade centers are airports, universities, free trade zones, exhibition centers or some property with commercial functions. As a result, we are in an ecosystem. And this ecosystem serves in many different areas. As I said, it can be trade, it can be agriculture, it can be real estate. As a result, we are talking about an ecosystem that acts on a relationship of trust in this environment that has a very close relationship with each other. We have seen how resilient this ecosystem has been with Covid. And now we have a number of economic challenges in front of us. We know that we will stand against this. We are together before perhaps a perfect storm in which many economic challenges await us.”

WTCA Business Development Executive Director Puyenbroeck continued: “We can talk about what these challenges are. But ultimately, our mission is to facilitate and promote trade. Perhaps more important than ever now. That's why we are actually here with TOBB today. Those who trade together get along much better. We already know that. So it's actually a peace project through trade.

My main goal in the memorandum of understanding is to keep it at a practical level. As the President just said, it is really important that trade delegations go back and forth. Next year, we will be holding our general assembly in Africa. This is really important for us. At the same time, with the help of Ankara and Istanbul trade centers, we will try to bring the business community together here. And therefore, we will try to bring Turkish companies and those who are interested in them to Africa. We also want to grow this organization. We want to grow this concept. Therefore, we will have the chance to follow these issues closely. I hope it will be a long-term and comprehensive cooperation.”