02.11.2023 Antalya
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his speech at the opening of the Local Products Expo, reminded that the Expo has hosted nearly 4,000 exhibitors and nearly 2 million visitors in 11 years and said, “YÖREX also made significant contributions to the development of the geographical indication ecosystem in our country and increased the perception and awareness of geographical indications.”
The opening ceremony of
YÖREX, which was held at Antalya Expo Center on November 2-5, 2023, was held
with the participation of TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Antalya
Governor Hulusi Şahin, Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek,
Turkish Patent and Trademark Office President Prof. Dr. Muhammed Zeki Durak,
Antalya Commodity Exchange President Ali Çandır and Antalya Chamber of Commerce
and Industry President Ali Bahar.
In his speech here,
TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “YÖREX set out in 2010 with the aim of
bringing our local and geographical indication products to the economy. As
TOBB, we supported this initiative initiated by our Antalya Commodity Exchange.
YÖREX is now Türkiye's showcase of local products and geographical indications.
It has brought together all the colors of our country. From east to west, from
north to south, all of Türkiye stands side by side in unity, solidarity and
brotherhood. First of all, I would like to congratulate the architect of this
work. Ali Çandır, President of Antalya Commodity Exchange, my colleague in the
Board of Directors of TOBB, came up with the idea of YÖREX and achieved a great
success.”
- Chambers and commodity exchanges have a big share in
geographical indication registration
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
that the Chambers and Commodity Exchanges and especially our women
entrepreneurs have a great share in the fact that geographical indications are
so well known and important today. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “They embraced this
work. In the last 11 years, 40% of the products with geographical indications
have been registered by our Chambers and Commodity Exchanges. The number of
products registered and applied for by them was 712. As TOBB, we register
geographical indication producers through our Chambers and Commodity Exchanges.
Producers start the production of the geographical indication product by making
a contract with the Chamber or Commodity Exchange, which holds the
registration. Our Chambers and Exchanges also supervise this and ensure the formation
of this market. Thus, they make it possible for geographical indications to be
more subject to trade.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said the
following: “What is the benefit of a geographical indication, a parmesan cheese
is 1.4 billion euros (total market value in the world). The variety of cheese
we have is nowhere in the world. There are both in provinces and districts.
What is our income, what is our sales abroad? Zero. Someone will earn 1.4
billion euros from a cheese, and we will not see any of it. This is what YÖREX
provides. Today, almost half of the geographical indications are provided by
the chambers. These geographical indications mean wealth, sharing this wealth
with the world and monetizing it. We have taken the first step of this.”
Stating that chambers,
commodity exchanges, development agencies support local products, the Turkish
Patent and Trademark Office leads the way, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they also
support the EU in terms of incentives.
- YÖREX became a meeting point
Stating that they have
made YÖREX an important meeting point for the branding and commercialization of
local products and geographical indications, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that
geographical indication producers, national retailers and e-commerce portals
come together every year at YÖREX. Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “The work does not end
only with domestic registration. It is now important to register abroad and
enter global markets. So far, 14 of our products have been registered in
Europe, and the evaluation process of 49 products is ongoing. We help the EU
registration process of geographical indications with our TOBB Brussels Office.
We should all be aware of this important point. If we do not know the value of
the products coming out of these lands first, we will never be able to explain
them to foreign markets. We have a product diversity that very few geographies
in the world are blessed with. If you want to be rich, if you want to make your
region rich, protect your own local products. Research them, brand them and
sell them to the world. Market them to the whole world with e-commerce and
e-export.”
TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu then visited the stands with the heads of chambers and commodity
exchanges, chatted with the participants and received information about the
products.