Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Turkey Tech Dates Ankara Conference, held in cooperation by TOBB and Turkish Economy Bank (TEB) and organized by the Turkish E-Commerce Council and EticaretSEM, was held at the TOBB Conference Hall. The conference started with the opening speeches by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci, Deputy General Director TEB Turgut Boz and TOBB E-commerce Council Chair Öget Kantarcı.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they are holding the first big event of the e-commerce sector council and said that they will continue to hold Turkey Tech Dates Meetings in Anatolian cities after this. Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We will inform our SMEs and entrepreneur candidates about digital technologies. We will bring business people who have succeeded in this area to meet with Anatolia. I especially urge our young people, that when you leave this hall, think, ‘I can do it.’ The opportunity is here, the future is here. A good idea, the right team, and the will to work: If you bring these three together, you will succeed.”

- e-Commerce: locomotive of the new economy

Stating that they took an important step to provide sectoral unity in e-commerce, the locomotive of the new economy, by establishing the e-commerce council the TOBB President said, “We now have a platform where Turkey's leading e-commerce sites, associations and representatives of public institutions can come together. Here, the private sector and public administration consult around the same table. They work together to solve the problems of the sector and they bring suggestions to public administration. I hope that the fruit of the work of the Council will enable the industry to grow faster.”

Stating that statistics show that we are only at the beginning of the road in e-commerce, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Only 2% of total retail trade is conducted through by electronic media. Only 1.2 out of every 10 credit cards have been used for online shopping. In developed countries, online retailing accounts for 10% of the total. We are behind for today but we can close the gap quickly. If we can use e-commerce for export again, we can expand our export range. Even now, the average distance of our e-exports is 50% higher than our normal exports. We have potential in this field.”

-Customs and Trade Minister Tüfenkci

Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci stated that customs exemption rates are very high for products and orders imported from abroad via e-commerce. “Orders made from abroad up to 75 Euros can enter Turkey without taxation, which can lead to unfair competition. We’ve reduced this limit to 30 Euros.”

Minister Tüfenkci stated that the ministry puts great important on e-commerce, “e-Commerce is open to the public and it is an area where we can go a long way as Turkey.”

Tüfenkci pointed out that Turkey is behind the world in this area and has a lot of ground to cover,  saing, “There are many reasons for this, and some of the most important reasons are some of the constraints that we have put on the various firms which make up the infrastructure of the IT sector.” 

Turgut Boz, Deputy General Manager of the Turkish Economy Bank, stated that the concept of entrepreneurship, with the ever-changing information society, has become even more prominent.