06.10.2017 Ankara
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said in his speech at the Turkey-Venezuela Business Forum that their bilateral trade volume of 350mn USD has fallen to 83mn USD in the last 3 years due to troubles, “We believe and hope that Venezuela Turkey can create much stronger partnerships.”
Turkey-Venezuela Business Forum, organized by the Union of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and DEİK, was held with the attendances of
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci, TOBB
President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and DEİK / Turkey-Venezuela Business Council
President Selim Bora.
Expressing that they are very pleased to be hosting President of
Venezuela President Maduro in Ankara, “I thank Nihat Zeybekçi, our Minister of
Economy, for honoring our meeting. Undoubtedly, this second visit between the
two countries at the presidential level is extremely valuable. It is a very
valuable beginning for the development of relations between the two countries.”
TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said today that global trade has slowed
down, growth has slowed, geopolitical risks have increased.
- “We pay special attention to
Latin America”
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they are closely following the recent
troubles in Venezuela, that they believe Venezuela it would overcome these
troubles with its social dynamism and historical accumulation.
Hisarcıklıoğlu said Turkish companies could meet the urgent needs of
Venezuela for agriculture, food, medicine and cleaning materials with the most
competitive prices at the best quality.
“We know that millions of hectares of agricultural land are unused in
our country. We can win over these lands to the economy by cooperating with
these companies and the related public authorities. For example, in Venezuela,
the country with the world's best cocoa flavor, Turkish companies of advanced
coffee and chocolate production can work together.
In April we took a group of businessmen to Caracas. We must definitely
increase these visits.”
- Economy Minister Zeybekci
Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci expressed that the distance between the
two countries is quite large but they consider this distance as, “ocean full of
opportunities” and pointed out that the signing of the economic and commercial
partnership agreement between the two countries was the result of the
negotiations.
- President of Venezuela Maduro
President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, stated that they’ve had an
extremely busy but productive day in Turkey and that they are evaluating business
opportunities between the two countries with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Nicolas Maduro reported that 5 agreements have been signed between
Turkey and Venezuela in the fields of tourism, trade, agriculture and security.
Reminding that he had visited Turkey during former President Hugo Chavez’s
time in office, Maduro said that at the time, they would have liked to increase
investments between the two countries but difficulties in establishing a
permanent business agreements were unable to be achieved.
Maduro, reporting that, there are business opportunities in fields such
as mining, petrochemicals, oil, natural gas, tourism, industry, agriculture in
Venezuela, said, “I invite you; let's find the best conditions and let's work
together in these areas.”