Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Attended the meeting in addition to TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were Commerce Taskforce Chair Güler Sabancı, Employment Taskforce Chair Ali Koç, Finance Taskforce Chair Hüsnü Özyeğin, Anti-Corruption Taskforce Chair Ayhan Zeytinoğlu and SME Taskforce Chair Melih Yurter.

B20 Turkey Chair M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that CEOs of 570 companies, 290 of them foreign, are attending meetings in Antalya. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they’ve received requests for invitations from 1600 companies, similar to the Ankara Summit, however limitations dictated by lodging and meeting venue capacities as well as security have the number of attendees have remained at this level.

Reporting that they’ve conducted 12 great meetings on 5 continents throughout their B20 activities, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they’ve summarized 1,900 their page report into 19 articles. Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that the number of active companies have been raised to 600 from 200 during Australia’s term.

- Taskforce chairs spoke about their efforts

Commerce Taskforce Chair Güler Sabancı reported that they’ve been working with over 100 members in 25 countries in order have more countries sign the agreement to facilitate international commerce. Stating that 51 countries have signed the agreement, Sabancı reported that they project 107 countries will have signed the agreement during 2016’s first half.

Employment Taskforce Chair Ali Koç touched on such issues as increasing opportunities in employment, preventing youth and women’s unemployment as well as stating that they are discussing whether the effects of technology and innovation are beneficial or harmful in regards to employment. Stating that they’ve been working closely with syndicates, Koç stressed the importance of dialogue.

Finance Taskforce Chair Hüsnü Özyeğin stated that the most significant problems faced by SMEs is the difficulty of access to financial tools. Özyeğin stressed the need for reducing financial costs of SMEs.

Anti-Corruption Taskforce Chair Ayhan Zeytinoğlu underlined their suggestions in regards to the use of digital technology, “We believe that acting on our suggestions will increase global trade by 2%.”

SME Taskforce Chair Melih Yurter reported that they’ve focused on 3 of their suggestions to be relayed to G20 leaders. Yurter stated that they put great importance on the establishment of the World SME Forum Foundation and that this foundation will be the global voice of SMEs.