03.05.2019 Ankara
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the meeting held with about 50 participants from different countries as a part of the 21st Turkish Speaking Entrepreneurs Program. Hosting entrepreneurs at the TOBB Twin Towers, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “This is a great opportunity to do business with each other and with Turkey. You can make up for everything except opportunities.”
TOBB
21st Turkish Speaking Entrepreneurs Program, taking place between April
28th and May 11th, 2019, includes the activities to be
held in Ankara, Adana, Mersin and Istanbul. The program aims to strengthen ties
of Turkish-speaking entrepreneurs from neighboring countries, Central Asia and the
Balkans with organized since 2005 in cooperation by TOBB and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. To date, 800 businessmen / businesswomen from neighboring and
related communities have participated in the programs.
TOBB
President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, pointed out that the Turkish business world
plays a major role in Turkey's development, highlighting the impact of
developments in trade. After 1980, late Prime Minister Turgut Ozal opened the
way for the private sector, taking on an instrumental role in the discovery of
their entrepreneurial spirit, “We criticized him then but he taught us to
compete and sell goods to the world. We are selling as much in a day as we did
throughout the whole of 1985. Today, we have reached 170 billion USD in
exports, 90% of it industry product. 60% of our exports are to EU countries. We
have reached 40 million tourists today, from just 300,000 tourists a year.
These were all realized through entrepreneurial spirit.”
- Recommendations
TOBB
President stated that being beneficial to the country is possible through being
very rich and said, “We want you to be rich. Employ more people. If you stay domestic,
you'll be small. To be a great trader, be sure to trade internationally.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized the importance of unity and solidarity to the
visiting entrepreneurs, “You are now a member of this big family.”