Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB 21^st Turkish Speaking Entrepreneurs Program, taking place between April 28^th and May 11^th, 2019, includes the activities to be held in Ankara, Adana, Mersin and Istanbul. The program aims to strengthen ties of Turkish-speaking entrepreneurs from neighboring countries, Central Asia and the Balkans with organized since 2005 in cooperation by TOBB and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To date, 800 businessmen / businesswomen from neighboring and related communities have participated in the programs.

TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, pointed out that the Turkish business world plays a major role in Turkey's development, highlighting the impact of developments in trade. After 1980, late Prime Minister Turgut Ozal opened the way for the private sector, taking on an instrumental role in the discovery of their entrepreneurial spirit, “We criticized him then but he taught us to compete and sell goods to the world. We are selling as much in a day as we did throughout the whole of 1985. Today, we have reached 170 billion USD in exports, 90% of it industry product. 60% of our exports are to EU countries. We have reached 40 million tourists today, from just 300,000 tourists a year. These were all realized through entrepreneurial spirit.”

- Recommendations

TOBB President stated that being beneficial to the country is possible through being very rich and said, “We want you to be rich. Employ more people. If you stay domestic, you'll be small. To be a great trader, be sure to trade internationally.” Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized the importance of unity and solidarity to the visiting entrepreneurs, “You are now a member of this big family.”