MÜSİAD BODRUM OPENING CEREMONY

28 November 2020

Esteemed Representatives of the Business World,

Esteemed MÜSİAD Members and Friends,

Esteemed Members of the Press,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At this event where we have come together on the occasion of the opening of MÜSİAD Bodrum, I respectfully greet you all; welcome, you have brought joy with you.

Esteemed Guests,

With its strong organizational network and the precious bond among its members and friends, MÜSİAD is an effective and powerful capital platform of a kind rarely found in the world.

The data MÜSİAD gathers thanks to this bond and its ability to process this data are among the greatest indicators of its strength in the field.

Today we are adding one more link to our organizational network, which is one of the greatest foundations of this strength of ours; how fortunate we are.

Advancing by making the best use of this strength, MÜSİAD stands at a key point in regional development, which is one of the important conditions for achieving holistic development.

While we expand our fields of activity all over the world, we also weave a strong network in our country and reach every one of our cities.

Alongside general matters, we also identify local problems and develop proposals for solutions. For this reason, unlike other NGOs, MÜSİAD makes a great contribution to regional development.

Thanks to our extensive organizational network, we reach micro data directly. In regional development, being able to obtain micro and macro data together is a great advantage.

We make our plans and share them with everyone who acts in line with our country's interests, above all with policymakers.

We know that a Türkiye that achieves regional development will possess great motivation on the path to holistic development. This, of course, will constitute a great driving force in our goal of taking a place among the world's top 10 economies.

Our MÜSİAD Smart Agricultural Cities Project, which we shared with the public a few days ago with the participation of our Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, was put forward precisely for this purpose and is a project we consider important for the development of our country.

As business people devoted to their country, their state and their nation, we are always ready to put our shoulder to the wheel in pursuit of this goal.

Esteemed Guests,

Today we are in the Aegean region, home to cities that hold an important place in Türkiye's production and exports.

With its long coastline, its commercial ports and its rail and road network, the Aegean Region hosts many economic units in terms of industry, agriculture and the service sector.

The Aegean Region, which after the Marmara Region contributes the most to our country's GDP, has made a significant contribution to the growth trend of the Turkish economy with the development it has displayed in recent years.

The Aegean region, which in 2019 provided great support to our country's foreign currency deficit with exports approaching a total of USD 20 billion, achieved a foreign trade surplus in the same period by carrying out imports of USD 13.3 billion.

Leading in sectors such as agriculture-based industry above all, as well as textiles and wood and paper products, the Aegean Region continues to play a key role in our country's economic development with its %16 share in the regional distribution of industrial enterprises.

In 2019, Muğla, which carried out exports totalling USD 554.1 million with an increase of %12.9 compared with the previous year, became Türkiye's 22nd largest exporting province with this performance.

In this period, the product groups Muğla exported the most were Fishery and Animal Products, Mining Products, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables. Exports of Fishery and Animal Products, reaching USD 368.3 million, correspond to %66 of the province's total exports. In the export of these products, Muğla ranks 2nd across Türkiye after İstanbul.

Muğla, which in 2019 was among the leading provinces with the widest export market, reaching a total of 110 countries, is maintaining its positive export outlook in 2020 as well.

In the January-September period of the year, Muğla achieved an export increase of %1.7 compared with the same month of the previous year, reaching the level of USD 419.9 million.

In this period, when our country's total exports declined by %10.9, the continuation of Muğla's export growth is a highly important indicator that clearly reveals the province's significance for the national economy.

Ranking 26th in Türkiye in imports with USD 318.1 million, Muğla thus recorded a foreign trade surplus in 2019 and had a positive effect on net external demand.

Every corner of our Türkiye is precious, every point of it is valuable; as MÜSİAD business people we act with this awareness and work to realize our investments not in a single region but across all four corners of our country.

As the president of Türkiye's most widespread and effective capital platform, I also make a call to our business people at every opportunity: come, let us do justice to this value, let us bring out the high potential of our country. Let us continue our investments without pause; let us build together a Strong Türkiye that produces and sells to the world.

We believe that MÜSİAD Bodrum, whose opening we are holding today, will likewise carry out work beneficial to its region and to our country in line with this goal.

Esteemed Guests,

As you know, this year we will hold MÜSİAD EXPO between 18 and 21 November at the İstanbul TÜYAP Fair and Congress Centre.

This year, as for the whole world, has been a difficult period for Türkiye too because of the pandemic. But gradually the time has come to roll up our sleeves in order to reduce the effects of the pandemic, many of whose economic and social impacts we have felt severely.

Without abandoning precautions in any way, we must continue to contribute to trade and to our country's economy.

In this period, MÜSİAD EXPO 2020, at which the international business networks that have come to the fore and whose importance has been understood far more than before will be established, is in this respect extremely important and valuable.

On this occasion, I invite you all to MÜSİAD EXPO, which we will hold in a hybrid format for the first time this year.

As I conclude my remarks, I hope that our new branch will bring goodness to our country, above all to Muğla and the Aegean Region.

I wish our branch president success and thank everyone who contributed to this fine event.

Abdurrahman Kaan

President of MÜSİAD