Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) is an institution of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), bringing together the commerce and industry chambers, unions and federations of 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation.

The 28th Plenary Meeting of the ICCI will be held in İstalbul between the 8th and the 11th of April. Sheikh Saleh Kamel is the President of ICCI while TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu is the Vice President. Also attending the Plenary Meeting will be the ICCI Secretary General Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu.

Attended by approximately 150 businessmen, bilateral business talks between countries will be held during the Plenary Meeting. Islamic Development Bank experts will also be present during the Plenary Meeting.

After the ICCI Plenary Meeting, businessmen from Islamic countries will travel to the TRNC, hosted by TOBB, to research investment opportunities and attend the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Investment Opportunities Forum to be held on the 12th and the 13th of April.

TOBB is supporting the forum which is co-organized by the TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Islamic Development Bank. Attending the forum will be the President of TRNC Derviş Eroğlu, TRNC Prime Minister İrsen Küçük and interested ministers and representatives of the business world as well as the Islamic Development Bank President Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali.

- Hisarcıklıoğlu: Our goal is a TRNC that can stand on its own feet

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, pointing out the importance of the Investment Forum and the ICCI Plenary Meeting, stated that their goal is a TRNC with a rapidly developing economy; prosperous people; bilateral commercial and financial relations with Turkey; abolishment of the unjust economic and political isolation it has been subject to; its economy, political and judicial system and people integrated to the international system; the ability to stand on its own feet strongly during solution negotiations with its economy and developed human resources.

Stating that they assess and enact each activity concerning the TRNC with this goal in mind, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that, in this regard, they have provided significant support in the establishment of the TRNC Investment Consultation Council.

- Putting TRNC on the global investment map

Reminding that the Investment Consultation Council’s first 2 meetings were held in 2010 and 2011 in Girne and that these meetings were heavily supported by TOBB, Hisarcıklıoğlu said:

“Among the primary problems identified at both the meetings was the fact that no foreign investors besides those from Turkey were coming to the TRNC. On this subject, the environment has been difficult for foreign investors, the isolation imposed on the TRNC being one of the main reasons for this. The Islamic Development Bank and the TRNC Foreign Affairs Ministry are organizing the TRNC Investment Forum in Girne on the 12th and 13th of April, 2012. As TOBB, we support the Investment Forum, the first of which we organized with the Islamic Development Bank in 2009. As part of this support, I will be attending the Investment Forum on April 12th, 2012 with a host of Islamic country chamber union representatives. The goal of the Forum is to reveal investment opportunities and put the TRNC on the world investment map.”
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