Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Speaking at the award ceremony, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said that 2021 will mark the 100^th anniversary of Gaziantep's liberation from enemy occupation. He said it was the anniversary, that a century ago, the people of Gaziantep showed the world what the love of homeland, the love of the nation and the flag was.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Gaziantep, which is the banner man of the national fight, has become the star not only of Turkey but also of the whole region with its entrepreneurs and industrialists today, and that it is a role model and driving force of the region.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that there is very little to reach 10 billion dollars of exports per year, “Again 10 years ago, among the 1,000 largest industrial enterprises, there were 35 companies from Gaziantep. Now that number has risen to 67. It has become the 4^th province with the most companies on the list. It became a brand not only in industry, but also in agriculture. It was among the top 5 cities in agricultural exports. It's been on a great offensive in tourism. It has become a world brand in both history and cultural tourism and gastronomy tourism. It's on UNESCO's list. Technology, on the other hand, has made a breakthrough. Gaziantep technopark was among the fastest growing technoparks. In short, Antep has become a real brand city with its land, people and economy.”

Emphasizing that entrepreneurs are now the source of the power of countries and even cities, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “If your entrepreneur is strong, your country will be strong and your city will be strong. So, in the first place, our public administration must take care of this community, these people. Because these people are the darlings of Antep and Turkey, and they are the pride of the Antep business world.”

- “All my Chamber and Commodity Exchange Presidents work with a great vision”

Congratulating Gaziantep Chamber of Industry President Adnan Ünverdi and his administration, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that Gaziantep is moving rapidly towards becoming a city that has a say in global economy.

Hisarcıklıoğlu explained that with the transformation move in the industry initiated by Gaziantep Chamber of Industry, with the model factory it has brought to the city, with the technology development center it has established and with the Vocational Training Center, it has brought both qualified people and high technology and high added value to the city, and has carried Gaziantep to the future with its projects.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that all chamber and commodity exchange presidents in Gaziantep work with a great vision. “Gaziantep Chamber is launching a e-Export mobilization. They are winning awards for their projects. They came first in the project competition at the World Chambers Congress. Gaziantep Commodity Exchange is establishing the Pistachio Licensed Warehouse in a first. They embrace and brand Antep's products. By taking the geomarks of 14 products, they’ve entered the top 3 Chambers-Exchanges in Turkey that receive the most geomarks. Again, especially during the pandemic, the Antep Chamber-Commodity Exchange Presidents constantly followed and communicated your problems. They sought a solution and resolved many of them.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that when the public and private sectors are strong, the brand value of the city increases.

“Ingenuity is subject to compliments,” the TOBB President said. “‎We will appreciate our successful entrepreneurs, our institutions.‎ We're going to cheer them on to encourage them to do better. Secondly, we will show our young people, our women, such beautiful examples of role models. That way, we'll get more entrepreneurs. Because we don't have oil and gas. Our wealth is not in the ground, but on it. Entrepreneurship is the source of Turkey's enrichment. So direct our children and women to become entrepreneurs. And more importantly, be one and be together. When it comes to Antep, all the lovers of Antep come together here. Anyway, when we join hands, when we work together publicly and privately, when consultation and common sense prevail, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. As long as we don't marginalize each other.”

- “We need to design our own emissions trading system and start carbon pricing as soon as possible”

Recalling that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the Paris Climate Agreement would be presented to parliament and ratified, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “This is a sign that an important transformation will begin. In this context, a Green Deal Action Plan was announced in our country. With concrete steps, support and incentives, we now need to fortify it. If this happens, it will be possible to withdraw the green funds of international organizations such as the World Bank and EBRD to our country. There's a rush to that. Because, for example, in automotive, buyers in the EU began to ask Turkish companies for some commitments. We also need to design our own emissions trading system (ETS) and start carbon pricing as soon as possible. Otherwise, from 2026 we will pay the European Union directly. That's 770 million euros a year for now. However, if we had ETS, we would collect this money ourselves.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu explained that China approved the agreement in 2016 and announced an ambitious carbon emission reduction plan in 2020. Last week, they announced that they would not support coal-based power generation and mining activities outside the country.”

Noting that as TOBB, they have started to prepare chambers/exchanges and all sectors for this process, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We have been continuing awareness and information studies since the first day. We have established a working group for Chambers/Exchanges. Thus, we make the necessary technical preparations to guide the members of the Chambers/Exchanges. We have established a sectoral workgroup within the Sector Councils for companies. We create scenarios on the basis of sectors and design what needs to be done on a company scale. With sectoral information meetings, we tell more than 2,000 companies how to measure the “carbon footprint”. We are preparing greenhouse gas reduction/improvement plans together with relevant associations especially for cement, iron-steel-aluminum-fertilizer-electrical sectors. We are lobbying for the establishment of an ETS compatible with the EU.”

- “Turkish industry does not have the luxury of neglecting digitalization”

Noting the digitization, the TOBB President said, “Now a question for you: what is the most valuable land in the world? Now, the important thing is to get a place in this small but valuable area. Therefore, Turkish industry cannot afford to neglect digitalization. Already, the ones who digitized their production and processes were the least affected by the pandemic. Here we have implemented the Smart SME Platform to digitize our industry, guide them in this process and bring them together with digital products and services. We welcome all our industrialists to Smart SME during the digital transformation process.”

Advising that the U.S. market should not be overlooked, Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “The United States is the world's largest market with $2.5 trillion in imports. Our share of here is only 5 in 1,000. We set up TTM in Chicago to get a bigger share. On October 20^th, there will be an introduction to this in our Chamber of Industry. There is great benefit in following up with this.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that there have been significant increases in input costs and that there are other problems, and that they have the will and the means to overcome them all, and that they want the state to allow them to compete on equal terms with their competitors.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he believes Gaziantep will take its place among the winners of the future. “‎We will join hands together again and bring our country to its rightful place.‎ We will become one of the largest economies in the world.”