Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu, Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank and Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) President Adem Şahin also attended the seminar through video conference.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the World Standards Day is celebrated this year with the theme of “Protecting the World with Standards.”

Reporting that TSE has prepared the standard of the products most widely used in the process of combating Covid-19 and has taken immediate steps regarding normalization process, safe production, trade, service, tourism and education opportunities, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Production, trade in this period of change in the world should take a more active role in determining standards. We must design the production capacity in our country according to new standards. If you say, 'I'll produce it how I want, what's going to happen?' Every production that is made ignoring standards is a waste of resources.”

- “We will form the National Team of Standards”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that TSE has provided active participation of the business community for standardization update and standardization processes, they have gathered their views and have conveyed this data to the institute.

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that engineers and technical people in the private sector issued a call to ensure that they were more involved in the standardization process.

“Close to 1,000 volunteers wanted to take part in standardization processes. We will provide training first thing in the coming period, then we will make 'mirror committee' pairings of engineers and technical persons. Again, we will ensure that competent persons take part in technical committees abroad on behalf of Turkey. Thus, as TOBB and TSE, we will have created the 'National Team of Standards'."

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that by participating in these technical committees, they will be prepared in advance for possible standard changes and threats to production via hostile changes will be eliminated.

Emphasizing that these committees will become a platform for sharing experience and technology, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “If we want to sell more goods to the world, we must work with foreigners on these committees. The ones who make the rules determine the shape of the game. We need to contribute to make rules through you.”

- Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank

Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank said they have taken a historic step to strengthen the power of the Turkish industrial and technology ecosystem, “The most critical reform of recent times has been enacted. We are setting up the Industrialization Executive Committee under the chairmanship of our President. The present and future of industrial and technology policies is recorded by the highest office of our state.”

Varank said they are working with the relevant ministries, led by the Ministry of Commerce, to increase market control and consumer awareness in cloth masks, and said the output of the study will be announced shortly.

With the guidelines and standards prepared with TSE, they contribute to the hygienic and safe maintenance of production, services and education, Varank said, noting that 913 industrial enterprises received safe production and 502 private schools received “My Clean School” certificate.

Varank emphasized that products and services in accordance with the standards are safe, respected and of good quality, and that the consumer has confidence, “At this point, who determines the standards, i.e. who makes the rules of the game is important. If we want to step up in global competition, you have to be at that table while the rules of the game are written. You need to be active in the standard preparation process, you need to make point-shot interventions at the beginning of the process."

Varank expressed that they signed a protocol with TOBB in 2017, “With the protocol, we have encouraged the participation of our industrialists in international standardization and we have targeted to increase their awareness. We are meeting with the sector councils, gathering information. Whatever issues our manufacturers expect an immediate solution to the standards, we should have a priority list. Instead of moving forward with individual efforts, let's take a result-oriented approach and save both time and resources.”

- TSE's role in setting standards in Europe

TSE President Şahin also pointed out that Covid-19 causes social and economic difficulties in the world, “Within the scope of the fight against the pandemic, as TSE, in accordance with the decisions taken by our government, in harmony with other institutions and organizations, we continue to provide uninterrupted service to our stakeholders.”

Şahin, pointing out that, on World Standards Day, with regards to rapid population growth and urbanization, supporting the effective use of limited resources to 'Protecting the World with Standards' theme is focused on standards in all areas of life and have important roles in the global economy.