06.10.2021 Gaziantep
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the 2021 Stars of Gaziantep Award Ceremony organized by Gaziantep Chamber of Industry.
Speaking at the award
ceremony, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said that 2021 will mark the 100th
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
4th 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 20th,
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.”