Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The 4^th International Future of the Automobile Sector and Convergence for Solution Conference was held at the Konya Dedeman Hotel with the attendance of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu. Attending the meeting were Konya Chamber of Industry Council Chair Memiş Kütükçü, Industry, Commerce, Energy, Natural Resources, Information and Technology Commission Chair Ziya Altunyaldız and TÜBİTAK Deputy Chair Prof.Dr.Mehmet Çelik as well as many private sector representatives.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated in his speech that Konya is the homeland of wisdom and plenty, pointing out that it has been the pioneer for Anatolia in regards to industrialization. Stating that Konya has put in the effort to be the center for the production of the domestic automobile, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Konya began this journey in 2008 at the automobile sub-industry solution convergence project. Afterwards, it held a series of OSEG conferences on “R&D and Innovation,” “Electric Automobiles,” “Domestic Engine”. We are here for the fourth in the series, “Domestic Automobile”. I would like to congratulate the Konya Chamber of Industry for their vision. It would be fitting that the domestic automobile be produced by Konya.”

- Praise for Konya’s production power

While there were 13 Konya industrialists among Turkey’s top 1,000 industry firms 10 years ago, this number has doubled since then, said Hisarcıklıoğlu and went on:

“It would be befitting of Konya to reach greater goals. Konya is one of the ancient capitals of civilization for us. This new century in which we find ourselves, we are fighting to build a new civilization. The way to achieve this is to be strong in science, industry and technology.

All influential nations of the world are strong in these fields. Everyone has recognized the value of the production industry. In order to achieve a leap forward in production, we must focus on domestic, innovative and green production. In the past we tripped ourselves over the domestic automobile as well as the domestic aircraft projects due to incompetent administration. Thankfully today we have more able and confident administrators in both the public and private sector. There is a can do attitude and a confident business culture. The results are evident in Konya and Turkey.”