Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

In the assessment meeting that was held in the TOBB Plaza, besides the  President of TOBB and DEIK Hisarciklioglu, Chairman of DEİK Executive Board Rona Yırcalı, Coordinator Chairman of Business Councils and Chairman of Turkish-Lebanese Business Council Mehmet Habbab, Turkish-UAE and Chairman of GCC Business Council Korhan Kurdoglu, Chairman of Turkish-Syrian Business Council Ruhsar Pekcan, Chairman of Turkish-Jordan Business Council Serif Egeli, Chairman of Turkish-Bahrain Business Council Osman Yıldırım Coskun, Chairman of Turkish-Yemen Business Council Sadık Yıldız, Chairman of Business Councils Coordinator Turkish-African Business Council and Chairman of Turkish-South African Business Council Tamer Taskin, Chairman of Turkish-Moroccan Business Council Banu Anil Antonetti, Chairman of Turkish-Tunisian Business Council Levent Soylu, Chairman of Turkish-Algerian Business Council Emre Aykar, Chairman of Turkish-Egypt Business Council Zuhal Mansfield, Chairman of Turkish-Lebanese Business Council Ersin Takla and Chairman of Turkish –Sudan Business Council Abdulkadir Tacyildiz also attended the meeting.

We are providing connecting to our members through crisis tables
At the end of the 2.5-hour-meeting that took place closed to the pressed, Hisarcıklıoğlu, announced the joint declaration that was prepared in joint efforts with the Heads of Business Councils. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that in the assessment meeting that was made with the Presidents of the Turkish-African and Middle East Business Council, the effects of the incidents that commenced with Tunisia and continued with  Egypt and Libya on the economic relations were evaluated and since the events have started, DEİK has been in intense contact with the members who operate in the respective countries. He continued, “Similarly we are taking active part in the crisis tables that are established by the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade and getting in contact with our members.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu drew the attention to the fact that the member profile of DEİK included overseas investors, contractors, bankers insurance institutions, logistics companies to a wide range of legal advisers, and that he strongly believed that the problems in the respective countries would be solved soon with the high level contacts that were established, he continued , “ We are ready to everything that falls on our part.”.
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that great success was achieved regarding the evacuation of the Turkish citizens and citizens from other countries that were working in the Turkish sites, he continued “Now our agenda is how to assist our companies in overcoming the difficulties they are experiencing due to the incidents.”



The total worth of the ongoing projects in Libya is 15 Billion Dollars
Hisarcıklıoğlu stressed upon the fact that in Northern Africa, Middle East and Gulf region Turkey has undertaken; contracting services worth 33 billion dollars in the last 3 years, exports worth 26 billion dollars and investments worth 9,5 billion dollars last year, and additionally almost 4 million tourists were attracted, continuing, “ The total worth of the Turkish contracting companies operating in Libya is 15 billion dollars. There is $1 billion dollar worth of machinery and construction facilities. The service sector has significant contribution in reduction of current account deficit and unemployment in Turkey. Turkey needs to work more actively with other regions to prevent an increase in the current account deficit and unemployment.”
Once the situations in Libya are settled the first to return back will be the Turkish contractors

Hisarcıklıoğlu announced what expectations TOBB and DEİK would have in this situation and his expectations from companies and public organizations through a message. Hisarcıklıoğlu said that once the situation in Libya is settled, the first to return back will be the Turkish companies, continuing, “ Additionally they will take over the half done works of contractors from other countries. Therefore it is important that the Turkish countries undertake the necessary preparations regarding returning back to continue their works in Libya.”Hisarcıklıoğlu stressed upon that the assets prices in Egypt dropped considerably after the events in Egypt  and he said, “ It is important that our companies should evaluate the opportunities in the neighbouring countries that will provide stability and high growth rates.”
Our insurance companies should denounce before the damage notice period expires
Hisarcıklıoğlu also underscored that the incidents in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya drew the attention to the need of sharing information such as personnel lists of contracting companies, their numbers, contact details and site inventories with the embassy’s, and in case of emergency these sort of information is of vital importance, additionally these nature of information should be updated every month. Hisarcıklıoğlu said that, “ The insurance companies should denounce the machines, equipments and other valuables under the insurance coverage that have been lost or damaged before the expiry of the notice period is beneficial.”
The contracts of works in Libya are still valid
Hisarcıklıoğlu said the contracts of the ongoing works in Libya are still valid, continuing, “The Turkish contracts are willing to return back to Libya and complete their work once the situation in Libya is secured. The Turkish companies in Libya have machinery park worth nearly 4 billion dollars. Due to the last incidents losses have been incurred in this area. Pur contractors should work with an international consulting agency to assess the losses. An agreement should be reached with the opposite country to assess the losses. As the negotiations continue under the patronage of an organization in Libya, it also ensures that there are no unfair attempts regarding the rejection of letter of guarantee. Therefore an agreements of gentlemen or similar should be signed between the two respective countries.”
The benefit conditions from unemployment insurance should be expanded
Hisarcıklıoğlu indicated that for the arrangements should be done with the warehouses that are located in the free zones to provide free storage of the goods that are either planned to shipped or are shipped and awaiting to be unloaded, he added, “ The postponement of the installment payments for machines and equipments that have been acquired through leases or loans will be beneficial for the contractors. On the other hands the banks have started to charge commissions on the letter of guarantees. The Bilateral Investment Treaties; that haven’t been signed in countries such as Libya, Algeria, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, UAE should be signed, or the agreements that aren’t in force should be kept in force and those which need renewals should be renewed. The unemployment benefits of Turkish workers who were working abroad but had to return back to the country due to the recent incidents should be broadened. The undertaking regarding the finalization of instruments such as “Political Risk Insurance” by Eximbank should be finalized urgently. The repayment terms and conditions of loans that were granted to companies that were damaged should be eased. The loan’s repayment terms should be eased and the interest rates should be reevaluated. We still await the cost of the credit should be made more convenient. As DEİK, we will work in close collaboration with the leasing, insurance and banking sectors to solve all the problems. On 12 March 2011 Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan will come together with the presidents of the business councils to reach mutual solutions.”
We don’t have any information on the loss-point
After the announcement of the notice, Hisarcıklıoğlu answered the questions in the press conference, in response to the question regarding the amount of loss incurred by Libya, he said, “We don’t have any information on the loss point. In this case an organization should be formed between Libya and Turkey, and a compensation point has to be reached.”

President’s trip carries huge importance
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he found the President’s trip to Egypt to be very important, contining, “In order to return to economic issues it is important that politics should be on path. Therefore the initiative of the President carries great important. This is positive percieved by us.” Upon being asked on what issues will be discussed during his meeting with Zafer Çağlayan, he replied by saying, “ There arelarge number of law faculties in Turkey. As the Turkish sector we feel that something is missing. We have lawyers that are not specialized. We werent looking fort his work alot. However, when we look at the point that Turkey has reached, we see that there is lack of international lawyers. We will send a writing to law faculties requesting them to commence a masters program. Because there is huge deficit with lawyers who can speak foreign languages.”


We don’t have an interlocutor facing us
Upon the question of the journalist, “Who are you in contact with?”, Hisarcıklıoğlu answered, “We dont have an interlocutor facing us right now?”, the respective journalist raised another question as, “ Who explained that for compensation of the losses you spoke about forming an independent organization, if you don’t have an interlocutor, how will this be formed?”, Hisarcıklıoğlu responded by saying, “The process will not continue this way. Once the country is normalized we need to assess the loss point of the country. We need to get ready for this. This is what we expressed.” Hisarcıkıoğlu pointed at the accumulated unemployment fund as a source for the unemployment fund for 25 thousand people, he continued, “This is a fund constituted from our resources. We do not need structural arrangements to be undertaken in order to ensure that our workers benefit from this fund. These resources are composed from us.”
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