30.01.2017 Cairo / Egypt
After four years, the Turkish-Egyptian Business Forum was organized in Egypt's capital, Cairo. Attending the forum were the President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce Ahmed el-Vekil.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
pointed out the closeness of Egypt and Turkey in his opening speech and said, “We
want to do more business with Egypt. We view Egypt as our natural neighbor. We
arrived at Cairo Airport after an hour and a half of flight from Ankara; that
is how close we are.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that Egypt and Turkey have deeply rooted ties from the past and said, “More
than neighbors, we share a culture. Presidents of Gaziantep Chamber and Mersin
Chamber of Deputies are here. Both cities boast large Arab populations. Egypt
and Turkey have always been intertwined throughout history. You find many
famous Egyptian scholars lie side by side with Turkish scholars today in the
cemeteries of İstanbul. More recently, a generation of Turks grew up with the
admiration of Ümmü Gülsüm, the star of the East. It inspired many artists in
that. What I’m saying is that we are the same.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that siblings should visit each other more often, pointing out that the brotherly
ties between countries should also strengthen economic relations.
- “We consider Egypt our natural partner”
The TOBB President
said, “Do not think Turkish business people are like the businessmen of other
countries. We do not come only to sell goods to Egypt. We also come to make
partnerships with Egyptian businessmen, to invest here, to export from Egypt to
the world. We consider Egypt our neighbor and natural partner.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “But
in order to do this, we must not forget the three-step rule of the economy:
first visit, then trade, then invest. This is not written in economy books. This
is written in the book of business. When economic relations grow stronger, so
do partnerships and investments.”
In Hisarcıklıoğlu's
speech, since the beginning of the year 2000, the number of Egyptians visiting
Turkey has increased by 5 times to 110,000; the number of Turkish visitors who
visited Egypt has increased by 10 times and exceeded 60,000. Bilateral trade
also increased to 5 billion USD, Turkey becoming Egypt's fourth largest trading
partner.
The TOBB President,
pointing out that Egypt has become a industrial investment base for Turkey,
added “Turkish firms are providing employment for 60,000 Egyptian brothers and are
contributing to Egypt's exports. This is the true fraternity I spoke of. I
wholeheartedly thank all the representatives of the Turkish business community.”
- “Egypt has begun implementing protectionist policies”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
pointed out that some of the figures have started to decline due to the
protectionist policies of Egypt, “But my dear friends, we have unfortunately lost
this momentum in recent years and we have started to decline in many figures;
one of the most important reasons for this is protectionism. Protectionist
policies do not enrich the countries, but impoverish them. We see this in Turkey;
we have experienced this. When the protectionist policies were implemented, the
Turkish economy was almost crawling along and we lagged behind the world. In
the 1980s, when protectionist policies were repealed and Turkey switched to a
free market economy we took to the skies flight.”
- “There are very important tasks for the business world”
TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu also talked about the political problems between Turkey and
Egypt at the end of his speech. Stressing that political disputes and economic
relations should be separated, Hisarcıklıoğlu concluded his address:
“Political relations
between countries may encounter problems from time to time, and examples of
this have been experienced in Egypt many times in the past, but economic
relations need to be considered separately. Because when economic relations are
damaged, repairs take a great deal of time and there are no winners throughout
that process. We have to carry our economic relations forward all the time
because our relations do not just concern us; there are conflicts and problems
in our geography. He used his There are very important tasks for the business
world in this regard.”
- “Turkey for Egypt is the gateway to eastern Europe”
“Egypt is the gateway
to Africa for Turkey as Turkey is the gateway for Egypt to Eastern Europe,”
said Ahmed el-Vekil, President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of
Commerce.
He pointed out that
some of the projects started with Turkey have faced obstacles after the January
25th Revolution in Egypt, “The Turkish delegation of who visited
Egypt is aiming to invest in important areas, and the work has been resumed in
order to revitalize the projects.”
TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they were negotiating with the aim of accelerating
economic relations.
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “As
Egyptian and Turkish businessmen we have come together with the aim of
accelerating the economic relations between our two countries. We will share
the difficulties we face with Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Tarık Gabil
and Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administration Reform Minister Ashraf
al-Arabi.”
Turkey's Cairo High
Commissioner, Ambassador Ali Rıza Güney stated that the Turkish investors see a
bright future for Egypt. Güney expressed that Turkish businessmen came to Egypt
to see the investment environment in Egypt, to establish contacts and to
evaluate potential investments.
- Great interest in bilateral business negotiations
Attending the Turkish-Egyptian
Business Forum with Hisarcıklıoğlu were a total of 35 Turkish businessmen from
Turkey, who are still investors in Egypt. The number of Egyptian businessmen
participating in the Forum is more than 80.
Among the businessmen
who went to Egypt along with TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu were, TOBB Vice
President Ali Kopuz, Gaziantep Chamber of Industry Adil Konukoğlu, Mersin
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Şerafettin Aşut, Chairman of Customs and
Tourism Enterprises Co. Inc. Arif Parmaksız, Bolvadin Chamber of Commerce and
Industry Murat Tabak, President of Steel Exporters Union Namık Ekinci , Nihat
Özdemir, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Limak Holding, and Can
Atalay, CEO of Arkas Holding.
There was great interest
in bilateral business talks after the business forum.
The Turkish-Egyptian
Business Forum was last held in Cairo in November 2012.