Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The most prestigious regional organization of the passenger transportation sector, the Busworld Academy & IRU Congress took place at the İstanbul Expo Center with the theme of “Towards a Sustainable Future in the Coach and Passenger Bus Market.”

Speaking at the meeting attended by TBMM Members Prof. Mustafa Ilıcalı, TOBB Passenger Transportation Council Chair Mustafa Yıldırım, Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication Ministry Undersecretary Şaban Atlas, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that Turkey, in terms of conducting land transportation volume, is the first in Europe and second only to the US worldwide.

Stating that they established the Land Passenger Transportation Council in 2010 in order to make the sector’s voice heard, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The sector council keeps the pulse of the sector, identifies problems and consults with public administration to seek solutions.”

- We want to make the sector’s voice be heard

Stating that they want to make the sector’s voice be heard both domestically and internationally as TOBB, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “To this end, we became a member of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in 2015. This allows us to protect the rights of the sector on the international arena as well promoting it worldwide. Land transportation is of critical importance for our country to reach its economic goals. We want the services sector to bring in 150bn USD per annum by 2023. The identification of the sector as a strategic sector by the Economy Ministry is a very important opportunity for us. We are working ensure that the sector is active in the services export national strategy document. If we are able to achieve this, we believe that there will be new investment opportunities for our companies as a part of the incentives package under preparation by the government. This will allow sector to have a breath of air, especially considering the competition against airway transportation.

The sector’s strength will also positively impact the domestic bus production sector. Bus production exported 44,000 busses last year, equal to 1.1bn USD in value. We congratulate the producers and exporters for their performance. TOBB supports the sector on all platforms. We are working to make it stronger.

There are many long standing problems of the sector. We believe that by solving these we will provide positive contributions to the growth of our country. If we all focus on opportunity, we will win together.”