Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, who started by praying for the grace of Allah for our heroic martyred soldiers in Afrin's during the undergoing Operation Olive Branch, said, “I’ve learned that you sent food materials to our heroic soldiers in Operation Olive Branch. Allah grace you with blessing. Maintain your unity and solidarity.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said that Mustafakemalpaşa is both an agriculture-animal husbandry, industrial and mining city. He said that this is the locomotive of the region in agriculture and livestock products. Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that there are underground resources such as marble and boron, said, “We have 2 OIZs. Agriculture and livestock-based industries are developing. We have important tourism potential in Uluabat Lake, Tümbüldek Spa and Suuçtu Waterfall among others. With the completion of the Istanbul-Izmir motorway, Mustafakemalpaşa will become an important junction point. It will be possible to reach Istanbul in 1,5 hours and İzmir in 2 hours. Mustafakemalpaşa's future is brighter than it is today. I would like to thank our Chamber and my business people for this.

Our chamber stands up for its values and brands. They applied to register Mustafakemalpaşa’s cheese dessert's geographical marker. İŞKUR Service Point was opened. Now I will tell you about the two innovations we have recently experienced in our Chambers. First is the online document generation. You can now get the document you need from your home, your job, without having to come to Chamber. Chambers are undergoing digital transformation. Chambers are now online chambers online room. Secondly, company establishments. Chambers are now One-Stop-Shops for company establishment. All company establishment operations will take place in our Chambers. We reduced the number of transactions from 7 to 1. We reduced the cost from 2,250TRY to 650TRY. That is how service is provided to the members. From the Chair to Board, from Council to women and young entrepreneurs, from the Secretaries General to all our employees, thank you all. Our chambers and exchanges keep your pulse, identify your troubles and then, together, we seek solutions.”

- What was accomplished in 2017 and the first 2 months of 2018

Hisarcıklıoğlu, in regards to what TOBB and the chambers community has been doing in the for the past year, underlined that they are doing very important things in financing. Stressing that that they provided 8 billion TRY to 290,000 companies with 9.9% interest under the Respite Credits, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that KOSGEB also provided loans to 290,000 companies with a 0-interest, 3-year maturity and that as Credit Guarantee Fund, they are guarantors for 364,000 companies for 221 billion TRY. TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that a total of 681,000 companies were reached in Turkey, with 234bn TRY provided in finances.

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the cost employment is the most important complaint of the business world, and thanks to the mobilization of employment initiated to this end, the Turkish private sector has provided 1.5 million additional jobs. The TOBB President also said that Bursa kept its word and provided additional 1.3 employment people per company. Hisarcıklıoğlu underlined the importance of incentives provided as a part of the employment mobilization. “The monthly minimum wage support of 100 TL will continue in 2018. When you hire someone, new premium and tax is covered by the state. You will only pay salary. So 1,600 TL is from you, 800 TL is tax + premium. Incentives will be in full force for 3 years. In the meantime, remember to request your retroactive incentives.”

As a part of the Industry-First Reform Package, the 2% TRT tax, OIZ property tax and stamp tax have been, amount to a total of 1 billion TRY in costs saved for the business community. Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish business community has undertaken the task of producing the.

Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “At our 73^rd General Assembly, the President of the Republic of Turkey call upon us, to find the brave entrepreneurs among TOBB to build the domestic car. We said ‘If you stand with us, we will do it.’ We’ve been working busily with the Minister of Industry to be ready to reveal the 5 braves. We announced them together with our President. Now the provinces are competing to have the factory set up there. This will be decided according to feasibility results. I hope the first prototype will emerge in 2019. In 2021, commercial sales will also begin.”

TOBB President explaining that they are doing extensive studies in the Coordination Council for Improvement of Investment Environment with the Ministers in regards to the issues reported by the business community, said, “We are among the world's 20 largest economies, but we rank 60^th in ease of business index. Why don’t people want to be entrepreneurs? There are many obstacles to doing business. We met with our government. You will see, in 2 years Turkey will be among the top 20 countries in ease of business index. The law which was passed yesterday was revolutionary for us. There 59 countries with easier company establishment, execution, bankruptcy, construction permits, title deeds, municipal applications, tax payments than us. Hopefully this will be the law to bring Turkey into the top 20. We will no longer have to wait on the government regarding VAT returns. 140 billion TRY will be paid to us in a certain schedule. We will be able request what we are owed from the government within 3 months from the day of the announcement the legislation. If not, the government will pay interest. This is a good deal for us. But first of all applaud our MPs. We will put our country among the top 10 economies.

Are there no problems at all? Of course there are. But we have the will and the power to overcome all of them. Look, we've made a lot of improvements by acting in unity and solidarity. Problems are not solved by fighting. It is solved by dialogue and common cause. Grace and prosperity in unity; anguish in dissent. I am deeply convinced that you will have an election process worthy of my community in April. The election will end and the winner as well as their competition will work together shoulder to shoulder again; Mustafakemalpaşa should work together.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu promised to have a school built for Mustafakemalpaşa at the end of his speech.