Big project ready to carry Anatolian goods to Europe

KARTEPE - Anatolia News Agency

TOBB Chairman Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu addresses a group of economy journalists during an event in Kocaeli over the weekend.

Of the largest 1,000 industrial firms listed by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, 155 moved to Anatolian cities over the last decade, said the head of the Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB).

M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, head of TOBB, said industry was migrating to Anatolia [from big cities]. “There is splendid activity and dynamism, for which we should clear the way,” at the Kartepe Economy Summit organized by the Economy Journalists Association in the western province of Kocaeli March 25.

However, he said Anatolia hadn’t been integrated into the customs union with the European Union as industries and large companies moved there. Integrating companies in Anatolia to the customs union would increase their competitiveness, he said, adding BALO [West Anatolia Logistics Organizations], a project to link Anatolia to Europe by rail, had been completed.

The project had been done with 70 partners, Turkish State Railways, the Ministry of Transportation and the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey and would soon enter into service, he said. “All the goods [manufactured in] Anatolia will be gathered at the Okçugöl Consolidation Center. From there we will transport them to inner Europe with containers via railway.” Okçugöl is in the western province of Balıkesir.

EU quotas

The EU was imposing quotas on the number Turkish trucks, despite supporting freedom of movement of merchandise, he said, adding the BALO project will decrease transportation costs and help bypass the quota.

Hisarcıklıoğlu also said NACE (General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within the European Communities), based on the European standards for industry classifications, would enter into force at the end of May.

“This will enable us to make trade and industry inventory based on provinces. ... We will know where companies operate instantly thanks to this new system.”

Touching on the new trade code he said there were some points, which should be improved, within the code, while praising it as a revolutionary step. He said that public companies should be transparent and the rest should be open and transparent to their partners, referring to the obligation for the companies to disclose information on their web sites.

Some 300 million people in China and 200 million in India earn and spend more than the Europeans, he said, noting that Turkey should be better focused where the consumption is.