TOBB to host 1,000 int’l business people

ISTANBUL

Business community representatives from 85 countries will attend the forum, says TOBB president Hisarcıklıoğlu. AA photo

Around 1,000 businessmen from 85 countries will gather at the Union of Chamber and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) International Business Forum in Istanbul, which will kick off on Sept. 13, to discuss the global economic crisis.

The business forum will particularly focus on the role of the private sector during times of economic crisis, empowering entrepreneurship and solutions to obstacles against the international trade.

The business forum will receive representatives of business communities and international institutions from the 85 participating countries, including the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Latin American countries, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Israel and Malaysia.

“Globalization has made all of the world’s economies interdependent. A minor economic or a political development at one edge of the world leads to a thunder storm in another location, perplexing economies just like the flutter of a butterfly causing a tsunami in another place. We have been experiencing the latest example of this for the last three years. The European financial crisis has affected other countries and still does. We want to discuss this process and the future of the international economy by bringing together the representatives of the world private sector in Istanbul,” TOBB President Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu had said in a written statement.

Hisarcıklıoğlu, who is one of the newly elected members of the ICC Executive Board, is also a member of WCF General Council.

Istanbul will also host the general council and board meetings of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the World Chambers Federation (WCF), which is the umbrella organization of 15,000 chambers from all around the world, between Sept. 12 and 14.

Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı and Hisarcıklıoğlu will make opening speeches at the forum.

The business forum will feature three sessions, namely “The continents discuss the global economic crisis,” “Empowering the entrepreneurs: enhancing networks for the development of the private sector,” “Private sector at the time of crisis: between Europe and the Middle East.”