Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu, explaining that commercial credit insurance has come into play, started by Halk Insurance, wanted the council members to know about this issue.

Referring to the importance of Vocational Education for the business world, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that 81 vocational high schools in 81 provinces have been paired with chambers/exchanges, Afyon Gazi Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School is paired with the Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Hisarcıklıoğlu reminded that the vocational qualification certificate is mandatory for 143 professions in the hazardous and very hazardous groups as per the law, as well as gallery management, real estate, passanger transport driver professions, “In these professions, employers employing undocumented workers will be fined. Within TOBB, we established the MEYBEM - Vocational Qualification and Certification Center. We serve in 81 provinces thanks to our Chamber-Exchanges. To date, close to 1 million employees have received professional qualification certificates. You do not pay the SSI Employer Premium for up to 4.5 years for your employees with FMC certificates. Make sure you take advantage of this.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that they started the mediation system to solve the problems experienced in cases between workers and employers, and today 70% of cases are solved by mediation system. Hisarcıklıoğlu said that mediation has become mandatory in commercial cases. Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they have established the TOBB Arbitration, in the event of a dispute with the contract, it would be enough to write "TOBB Arbitration is authorized.”

Referring to the issue of the domestic automobile, Hisarcıklıoğlu said they fulfilled their promise to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Hisarcıklıoğlu, “Mr. President called on every platform from 2011 to 2017. We made this promise by relying on the Turkish business world, that is, by relying on you. We launched on December 27th. I hope that soon the foundation of this will be laid in Gemlik, Bursa.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the vehicle will be 100% electric, and stated that technological change in Turkey began at the same time as the world. Hisarcıklıoğlu, said, “Allah willing, the first car will be released in 2022. Domestic cars will contribute 20,000 additional jobs to Turkey, $7.5 billion less current account deficit and $50 billion in national income. It's no longer just a car. It’s completely autonomous. It's a tool which is completely computerized.”

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, before the ceremony, tested the domestic rock truck Deve and driverless agricultural vehicle “SAR,” produced by business people of Afyonkarahisar.

- Serteser, “Our province continues to grow"

ATSO President Hüsnü Serteser said, “We did not randomly select the name of our award ceremony. In the last 10 years, our province has evolved and grown. As always, I believe that this development move will continue with your support. Afyonkarahisar's total exports in 2019 increased by 6.35% compared to 2018 to 363.664 million dollars. The increase in Turkey's exports was 2.04% compared to the previous year. There was an increase in the exports of our province above the Turkish average. With this figure, Afyon became the 30th province in Exports in Turkey. President Hisarcıklıoğlu had given us the goal of entering the top 500 exporter companies. In 2019, our number of exporter companies has also increased. Our number of exporter companies increased from 347 in 2018 to 394 last year. We are in a good position in exports, we are working to achieve better, we will work. We are also one of the provinces which contribute to the closure of the current account deficit in imports. In our province, we imported $78 million in 2019. Accordingly, we export $4.7 for every $1 import. Again, in the last 10 years, we have made an important breakthrough in the field of hot spring tourism with the dedication of our investors. We are now the capital of hot spring with a hospitality capacity of approximately 27,000 beds. We are working to increase our capacity even more.”

Stressing that hot spring tourism should be combined with health tourism and the health care industry, Serteser said, “Hot spring tourism will be much more meaningful if combined with health tourism and the health care industry. As you know, we are working hard to declare health industry zone in our province with our Minister, Governor, Deputies, Mayor, Rectors, Provincial General Assembly President. We visited you twice in this context. The Health Industry Zone, which will accelerate the development of Afyonkarahisar and take a leading role in the field of health tourism, coincides with the vision of Our Union of Chambers and Exchanges of Turkey to integrate with the world economy. Therefore, under your leadership, we demand that our Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, which is the umbrella organization of the Turkish Private Sector, to support the Executive Company of the Health Industry Region.”

- Governor Mustafa Tutulmaz

Afyonkarahisar Governor Mustafa Eclipsez noted that the city is developing rapidly. “Recently, Afyonkarahisar had an economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry. The manufacturing industry was almost nonexistent. Production was only in the field of agriculture and livestock, and manufacturing was left to other cities. With recent investments, especially with the initiative of the private sector, agriculture and livestock are our important source of income with public investments in infrastructure, becoming one of the leading in manufacturing and food industry cities of our country. Marble has important features from history, but its use as an industry and source of income is based on recent history. We are coming to stronger positions with health tourism, especially hot spring tourism. These developments are enabled by valuable business people's investments.”