20.01.2025 Hatay

The President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, attended the “Joint Trade Vision Consultation Meeting with Syria” held at the Antakya Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Reminding that the earthquakes on February 6, 2023, centered in Kahramanmaraş caused great destruction in Hatay, Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked the heads of chambers and commodity exchanges and business people for their help throughout the recovery process.

Pointing out that a new era has begun in Syria after the overthrow of the Baath regime, Hisarcıklıoğlu continued his words as follows: “Syria’s economic recovery, development and reconstruction process will soon begin. This opens a new door of opportunity for Türkiye in terms of both logistics and trade. While our exports to Syria have increased in terms of value, the nature of export products has also changed significantly. The composition of our exports shifted from manufacturing industry products to agricultural products. Today, half of Syria’s imports are supplied by Türkiye. Now we will enter a period in which exports will both increase and diversify. This will not be an easy process. Syria has lost 60 percent of its national income and 75 percent of its public revenues in the last 10 years. According to a United Nations report, the cost of reconstruction of Syria is expected to reach 400 billion dollars, and I think it will be even higher. There will be many infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, buildings, electricity grids and water canals. Both our strong construction sector in the world and the presence of cement and iron-steel factories close to the region give us a great advantage. In addition, an important market will emerge for the export of many manufactured products, especially furniture and white goods.”

- “A needs analysis report should be prepared for Syria”

Stating that the opportunities of the new period in Syria should be utilized, Hisarcıklıoğlu suggested making preparations now.

Stating that there are 35,000 companies in which Syrians living in Türkiye are involved in the establishment or are partners, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “These companies, which have ties with the markets in Türkiye, can also take part in the supply chain construction process in Syria. In this way, we say that new job opportunities can arise. Secondly, we should direct our contractors with organizational capability and machinery to the region. In order to do this, a needs analysis report for Syria should be prepared first. Such a report is also important for determining the road map and our priorities.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu underlined the need to re-establish a free trade agreement between Türkiye and Syria.

Hikmet Çinçin, President of Antakya Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the new period in Syria is an opportunity in terms of trade and logistics. On January 10, Çinçin, who was elected as the president of the Super League team Atakaş Hatayspor, presented Hisarcıklıoğlu with the team’s jersey to commemorate the day.

The program then continued closed to the press.