24.08.2016 Gaziantep
TOBB’s customs gate modernization project, hailed as best-in-practice by the UN, has mobilized to improve trade in Van and its environs. The foundation has been laid for the modernization of the Van Kapıköy Customs Gate. The project will be undertaken by TOBB and the Customs and Commerce Ministry and will aim to expand the trade volume of the region. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that this investment is the most important step in actualizing Van and its region’s year of 46 years.
The
foundation has been laid for the modernization of the Van Kapıköy Customs Gate
by TOBB and the Customs and Commerce Ministry. The Van Kapıköy Customs Gate
will be modernized with the build-operate-transfer model by Customs and Tourism
Enterprises Co. Inc. (GTİ), a TOBB subsidiary. Attending the ceremony were TOBB
President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Customs and Commerce Minister Bülent
Tüfenkci, Deputy Minister Fatih Çiftçi, bureaucrats as well as chamber and
exchange presidents.
Stating that
the modernized gate will increase Van’s trade volume, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Not
just with Iran, but the Middle East as a whole and the Turkic republics. With
this, we hope to hear more good news in regards to Van’s infrastructure
development such as the construction of a Logistics Center and OIZ in Van.
Our dream is
to divert the global trade path to this region again. We are working to this
end. With Kapıköy, we are a step closer to that dream. This will be Anatolia’s
gateway to Iran and Central Asia. Van will prosper; Turkey will prosper. Lake
Van will be the meeting point of its region and a tourism center. We will all
prosper together.”
Stating that
the UN has shown TOBB’s customs gates modernization project as
best-in-practice, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “They have told the whole world that,
‘if you want to speed up your border crossings, to make them safer, do what
Turkey has done’.”
Reporting
that they have not taken a single cent from the government in bringing the
customs modernization project to reality, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the project
has in fact multiplied the government’s tax income. “We have so far modernized
10 customs gates with the latest technology. Wait times have dropped to half of
what they were previously in the modernized gates. Crossings have quadrupled.
The Chamber-Exchange community has invested 725 million TRY in order to bring
this about. As a result 372 million TRY in taxes have been paid through these
gates. In total, we have enabled a billion TRY income for the government. Not
only the government but also the private sector has profited from this.
According to a study by the ministry, due to reduced wait times, the private
sector has saved 410 million TRY in freight costs. This means Turkish
industrialists, traders and entrepreneurs are earning 410 million TRY
annually.”