Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Stating that they have signed the agreement for the founding of the Turkey - Australia Business Council, Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that DEİK has bilateral business council agreements with 102 countries and that business councils have done an extraordinary job.

Hisarcıklıoğlu expressed their desire as DEİK to further develop Turkey's foreign trade by increasing business councils with other countries and said, "In point of fact, Australia presents us with great opportunities. Unfortunately, until today, we've neglected it due to the great distance between us. It is in fact one of the largest economies in the world but we are not selling any goods there. The greatest advantage for us is that Australia is not an industrial country; it exports its natural resources - which it is quite rich in. We are an industrial country, that is why there are great opportunities for Turkey, its industry and the Turkish industrialists.

Turkey is the largest industrialist between Italy and China. In this regard, there is great potential for us.

I believe that the Business Council will increase the bilateral trade figures between Turkey and Australia in the coming term. Today, our bilateral trade volume stands at around 400-500 million USD. Increasing this to 1 billion, 2 billion USD should be a simple matter. That is why we are here."

Emphasizing the importance of the agreement signed between Australia and Turkey, the DEİK Asia Pacific Vice President and businessman Mehmet Ali Karamemiş said, "Despite the fact that both countries are G20 members, a trade volume of 1.5 billion USD is too low. It is my hope that, with the support of this agreement, it will reach 5-6 billion USD."