Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The opening ceremony of YÖREX, which was held at Antalya Expo Center on November 2-5, 2023, was held with the participation of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin, Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek, Turkish Patent and Trademark Office President Prof. Dr. Muhammed Zeki Durak, Antalya Commodity Exchange President Ali Çandır and Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ali Bahar.

In his speech here, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “YÖREX set out in 2010 with the aim of bringing our local and geographical indication products to the economy. As TOBB, we supported this initiative initiated by our Antalya Commodity Exchange. YÖREX is now Türkiye's showcase of local products and geographical indications. It has brought together all the colors of our country. From east to west, from north to south, all of Türkiye stands side by side in unity, solidarity and brotherhood. First of all, I would like to congratulate the architect of this work. Ali Çandır, President of Antalya Commodity Exchange, my colleague in the Board of Directors of TOBB, came up with the idea of YÖREX and achieved a great success.”

- Chambers and commodity exchanges have a big share in geographical indication registration

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges and especially our women entrepreneurs have a great share in the fact that geographical indications are so well known and important today. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “They embraced this work. In the last 11 years, 40% of the products with geographical indications have been registered by our Chambers and Commodity Exchanges. The number of products registered and applied for by them was 712. As TOBB, we register geographical indication producers through our Chambers and Commodity Exchanges. Producers start the production of the geographical indication product by making a contract with the Chamber or Commodity Exchange, which holds the registration. Our Chambers and Exchanges also supervise this and ensure the formation of this market. Thus, they make it possible for geographical indications to be more subject to trade.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said the following: “What is the benefit of a geographical indication, a parmesan cheese is 1.4 billion euros (total market value in the world). The variety of cheese we have is nowhere in the world. There are both in provinces and districts. What is our income, what is our sales abroad? Zero. Someone will earn 1.4 billion euros from a cheese, and we will not see any of it. This is what YÖREX provides. Today, almost half of the geographical indications are provided by the chambers. These geographical indications mean wealth, sharing this wealth with the world and monetizing it. We have taken the first step of this.”

Stating that chambers, commodity exchanges, development agencies support local products, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office leads the way, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they also support the EU in terms of incentives.

- YÖREX became a meeting point

Stating that they have made YÖREX an important meeting point for the branding and commercialization of local products and geographical indications, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that geographical indication producers, national retailers and e-commerce portals come together every year at YÖREX. Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “The work does not end only with domestic registration. It is now important to register abroad and enter global markets. So far, 14 of our products have been registered in Europe, and the evaluation process of 49 products is ongoing. We help the EU registration process of geographical indications with our TOBB Brussels Office. We should all be aware of this important point. If we do not know the value of the products coming out of these lands first, we will never be able to explain them to foreign markets. We have a product diversity that very few geographies in the world are blessed with. If you want to be rich, if you want to make your region rich, protect your own local products. Research them, brand them and sell them to the world. Market them to the whole world with e-commerce and e-export.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu then visited the stands with the heads of chambers and commodity exchanges, chatted with the participants and received information about the products.