21.07.2022 Ankara
A cooperation agreement was signed between the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA). The cooperation agreement signed by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and WTCA Business Development Executive Director Robin Van Puyenbroeck aims to promote and facilitate trade.
Speaking at the signing
ceremony, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)
President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, emphasizing that as TOBB, they support the
opening of its members to the outside world, said, “In this context, exports of
goods and services, joint investments within and outside the country are
extremely important. We are striving to bring more direct investment to our
country.”
In this context,
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the modernization of the Customs Union between
Turkey and the EU is an important priority, “Adding agriculture, services and
public procurement to the scope of the Customs Union, overcoming the mutual
problems encountered in the functioning of the current structure will create
new opportunities for the business worlds of Turkey and the EU. Yesterday we
were in Brussels in this context. After the departure of the United Kingdom
from the EU, the free trade agreement entered into force between Turkey and the
United Kingdom also offers important opportunities to our companies.”
Stating that the
balanced trade target of 100 billion dollars with the USA is another priority,
the TOBB President continued: “Our Trade Center, which continues its activities
in Chicago, focuses directly on the realization of this goal. The completion of
the Economic Partnership Agreement process between Turkey and Japan is also
among our priorities.
As the Turkish business
world, we closely follow the negotiations on Indonesia, MERCOSUR, Mexico and
similar free trade agreements. Taking advantage of the opportunities provided
by the existing free trade agreements with countries such as South Korea,
Singapore and Malaysia is also among our priorities.
In this context, with
the Memorandum of Understanding we have signed, mutual support will be provided
to the organization of trade delegations to and from outside the country. At
the same time, the necessary platform will be provided for cooperation between
our members. I hope that the agreement will be beneficial for the business
world of our country.”
“What we are trying to
do is to increase and facilitate trade and investments “
Robin Van Puyenbroeck,
Executive Director of Business Development at the World Trade Centers
Association (WTCA), said that he has been visiting Turkey for the last 30 years
and that Turkey is now in a very, very developed state. Puyenbroeck stated that
Turkey is a real giant both in terms of industry, manufacturing industry and
trade.
Robin Van Puyenbroeck
congratulated Hisarcıklıoğlu for all his efforts and said, “You have made very
serious efforts both in terms of attracting investments here and taking
investments abroad.”
Explaining that the
World Trade Centers Association is an international trade organization, Robin
Van Puyenbroeck said, “Its purpose is to spread, encourage and facilitate
international trade. We also own the World Trade Organization brand. Therefore,
we work together with international trade organizations that are members of
this network. Thanks to the centers equipped with the latest technology and the
latest equipment, which is a product of what is happening in Ankara and
Istanbul. In fact, what we are trying to do is to increase and facilitate trade
and investments. At the same time, I would like to underline that we are an
international trade organization, but that's exactly how we do it. Let me tell
you right away, there are about 300 world trade organizations in 100 countries.
We are talking about a very diverse group. There is a wide variety of members
here. World trade centers are not well known, but in fact world trade centers
are airports, universities, free trade zones, exhibition centers or some
property with commercial functions. As a result, we are in an ecosystem. And
this ecosystem serves in many different areas. As I said, it can be trade, it
can be agriculture, it can be real estate. As a result, we are talking about an
ecosystem that acts on a relationship of trust in this environment that has a
very close relationship with each other. We have seen how resilient this
ecosystem has been with Covid. And now we have a number of economic challenges
in front of us. We know that we will stand against this. We are together before
perhaps a perfect storm in which many economic challenges await us.”
WTCA Business
Development Executive Director Puyenbroeck continued: “We can talk about what
these challenges are. But ultimately, our mission is to facilitate and promote
trade. Perhaps more important than ever now. That's why we are actually here
with TOBB today. Those who trade together get along much better. We already
know that. So it's actually a peace project through trade.
My main goal in the
memorandum of understanding is to keep it at a practical level. As the
President just said, it is really important that trade delegations go back and
forth. Next year, we will be holding our general assembly in Africa. This is
really important for us. At the same time, with the help of Ankara and Istanbul
trade centers, we will try to bring the business community together here. And
therefore, we will try to bring Turkish companies and those who are interested in
them to Africa. We also want to grow this organization. We want to grow this
concept. Therefore, we will have the chance to follow these issues closely. I
hope it will be a long-term and comprehensive cooperation.”