TOBB feels justified pride of 60 golden years

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu

TOBB’s 60 years of professional efforts are being celebrated by an international event that covers the entire international spectrum, in which TOBB acts efficiently, says Hisarcıklıoğlu.AA photo

This is an era of complex interaction of trade, communication and technology; in short an era of globalization. Advances in information technology have dramatically transformed economic life. The world economy is still undergoing a major shift with emerging markets catching up to developed economies.

Turkey, within this trend, takes its deserved place as a converging economy with the developed ones.

The resilience shown by the Turkish private sector through many crises is a result of the strong private sector institutionalization in Turkey that has been formed under the umbrella of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).

TOBB was founded in 1952. It is the apex organization of the business community in Turkey. Some of our missions are to observe and protect the interests and the rights of the Turkish business community. Moreover, we have determined our vision as the creation of a more competitive and prosperous Turkey, where entrepreneurial behavior is promoted and rewarded, where competition and trade are free but also fair.

To achieve our goals, TOBB has established a solid institutional framework. As the backbone of this framework, the union has 365 local chambers and commodity exchanges, through which over 1,400,000 firms of all sizes from all regions and sectors are represented. To diagnose and to help cure sectoral problems, 59 sectoral assemblies function under the institutional framework of TOBB.

TOBB is also active at the international level and is a member of a wide international network including the International Chamber of Commerce, World Chambers Federation, Eurochambers, Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and more. To support and help its international activities function smoothly, TOBB has offices in Washington D.C., Brussels and Moscow.

Today, we have the justified pride of 60 golden years. Our 60 years of professional efforts are being celebrated by an international event called the “TOBB International Business Forum (IBF),” which covers the entire international spectrum, in which TOBB acts efficiently. Our aim is to make a difference by building efficient links among our local and international network with this unique event. We will have more than 1,000 guests from 87 countries all around the world. They will meet representatives from our grassroots network from all 81 provinces of Turkey.

His Excellency Mr. Ali Babacan, deputy prime minister of Turkey, and His Excellency Gjorge Ivanov, president of the Republic of Macedonia will honor the IBF with their esteemed presence.

After this opening session we will have a brainstorming session on the global crises. We call this session “Continents on Debate.” Seven chamber leaders from various parts of the globe will make short remarks about their crisis experiences. Moreover, in this session we would be glad to hear their views about the Turkish economy. I thank Mick Fleming from the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Constantine Michalos from the Union of Hellenic Chambers of Commerce, Ambrosia Bertolotti from the Ibero-American Association of Chambers of Commerce, Phongsak Assakul from the Thai CC, Georgy Petrov from the Russian CCI, Khalil bin Abdullah al-Khonji from the FGCCC and Olive Kigongo from the Uganda National CCI for giving us this opportunity to hear their views on the global financial crisis.

In the afternoon session, with the moderation of TEPAV’s managing director, Professor Güven Sak, we will have our first panel to discuss issues for empowering entrepreneurs all around the globe. Andrea Tomat from Lotto Sport, Wang Jinzhen from the CCPIT, Andrey Kondakov from the BSTDB, Galya F. Molinas from the Coca-Cola Company and Ahmed al-Wakil from the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce are our distinguished panelists in the first panel.

The business forum will proceed with the commencement of the second panel, titled “Private Sector in an Age of Crises: Between Europe and the Middle East.” In this panel, with the moderation of Işınsu Kestelli from the İzmir Commodity Exchange, Alessandro Barberis from Eurochambers, Jean-Guy Carrier from the ICC, Salah Kamil from Islam CCIA and Erdem Başçı from the Central Bank of Turkey will brainstorm about the global challenges faced, and comment on how leaders can better collaborate to mitigate risks and realize opportunities.

We intend to organize the TOBB International Business Forum again and transform it into a well-known, reputable and traditional global event. I hope the very first of the IBF series will perform quite successfully.
With my best wishes.