Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his speech, gave information about Malatya. Stating that the name of Malatya means honey in the old language, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Malatya, like honey, is a city with a lot of blessings. She gave us Battal Gazi, Ismet Pasha, Hamido and Turgut Özal. Today, she has given us a very valuable politician and statesman for our country in Mr. Bülent Tüfenkci. Under his leadership, we have taken many historical steps that have improved the business and investment climate in our country. As the Turkish business world, we express our gratitude to him. Malatya is right to be proud of producing such a politician and minister for our country.”

- The Role of Local Governments in Economic Development

In his speech at the conference, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “In 1950, the number of cities with population over 1 million was only 77. Now this figure has reached 436. In 1950, a total of 180 million people lived in cities. Today, 1.4 billion people do. Just the economic volume of metropolitan cities already holds half of the world economy. In 10 years, it will be 60%. It is not only countries or companies which are brands in the world anymore. Cities are also brands. In the past, competition was only among the countries. Today, cities compete against each other. Those who show themselves in this race will be the star cities of tomorrow. This is because the growing middle class is gathering in cities. Every year, the middle class in the world, increases by twice the population of Turkey. In a foreign program I recently saw, a foreign city wanting to stand out among the competition promoting itself by building the fastest internet infrastructure in the world which I found to be very interesting. Thus, the city attracts high-tech companies, rapidly becoming prosperous. We must increase the attractiveness of our cities. For this reason, our cities need to be branded, their environmental sensitivities increased and be ‘smart cities.’”

- It is impossible manage from a single center Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu underlined that it is not possible to enable cities to rise to the top by managing them only from the center. Stating that referring to local actors today, the fact that only local governments come to mind is wrong, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Local actors means the local representatives of the government, chambers, commodity exchanges and NGOs. These local actors should determine together the local development approach. That's what big cities around the world do. As soon as the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan took office, he established the Smart London Board. In order to bring technological solutions to the city, he has made all the actors, including academicians in the city, members of the board. He's got the mind in the city together. He encouraged unity of purpose.”

- The importance of aggregation

Touching on the concept of aggregation, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “It is very important to ensure aggregation, that is, to come together, in order to increase trade. Our companies should grow together by sharing their power. This is how the world works. Italy's largest fabric producers are producing in only two cities. The auctioneers in England are gathered in London. The fact that companies come together in a certain geography provides information sharing, cooperation, or even partnership, contributing to the reduction of input costs and innovation.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that another important point is the branding of local products, giving Parmesan in Italy as an example. “Just parmesan sales bring in 1.5 billion euros. Price of olive oil has increased by 20%. Thanks to Malatya CCI, Malatya apricots were registered for geographical markers first in Turkey, then in the European Union. Here, local actors contributed to Malatya's economy and local development.”

Stating that they’ve lived through dozens of crises and turbulence in the last 25 years, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the nation has overcome all of them and continued on its way. Stating that hope and trust are very important to the economy, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We will protect our hope and trust in our country and our city. If we stand united and in solidarity; if we do not lose hope and trust in ourselves, our city and our country, Allah willing, there is no challenge we cannot overcome.”