Europe Presidents' Meeting

13 January 2024

Esteemed Members of MÜSİAD,

Esteemed Presidents of our MÜSİAD,

Esteemed ladies and gentlemen,

I respectfully greet you all… Welcome; you have honoured us with your presence…

We have completed two days of our intensive three-day program. We paid our visits. We opened our tenth contact centre in Germany. We held meetings with our Board of Directors members. With the participation of our esteemed Ambassador to Berlin, we held our session on “Türkiye-Germany Relations”. We held our Berlin General Assembly and had very productive talks and exchanges of ideas.

I believe that today too, God willing, we will spend a fruitful day. We begin our Europe General Administrative Board Presidents' meeting by saying “In the name of God”.

Our Esteemed Organization Presidents,

We have full confidence that our country, which has carried the flag of exports to more than 200 countries and has made quite great strides in many fields from the economy to infrastructure and urbanization and from education to health, will sustain this success in the coming period as well and will enter among the 10 largest economies of the world in the “Century of Türkiye”.

We express this in every setting we are in. In recent days we held two productive meetings, first with our Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek and then with our Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat. The main agenda of these meetings was the assessment of 2023 and the targets for 2024.

God willing, despite the difficulties we experience in the four corners of the world, 2024 will pass with economic development for our country. Of course, many duties fall to us here, but exports are our priority duty.

Esteemed friends,

On the path of increasing exports, which is one of our country's economic priorities, our MÜSİAD too has always displayed an attitude of putting its hand under the stone and shouldering great responsibilities.

As the MÜSİAD Family, whether through the branches and representative offices we have opened all over the world, or through the business trips we have made, or through our diplomatic and commercial contacts, we have always striven to develop new and strong commercial relations. And we continue to strive. May God be pleased with each and every one of our members.

Indeed, MÜSİAD, which represents 60 thousand enterprises with more than 14 thousand members at home and abroad, provides employment to approximately 2 million people, has 85 contact points at home and serves in 81 countries and at a total of 174 points with 95 contact points abroad, has the determination and the resolve to reach its members under all circumstances in the different geographies of the world as much as in our country.

Indeed, one of the most important reasons for MÜSİAD's existence is to build a strong and lasting organizational structure. Whether at home or abroad, MÜSİAD has always believed in the power of organization in order to raise its contact with its members to the highest point.

Indeed, yesterday we took another fine step towards strengthening our organization and opened our Hesse Office, our 10th representative office in Germany. I once again thank everyone who contributed to our branch opening.

Esteemed MÜSİAD Family,

As members of MÜSİAD, alongside lawful earnings we carry the enthusiasm and the passion of carrying our country economically to greater heights. Therefore, what falls to us is to work for the development of our country: to produce more, to invest and thereby to provide employment.

Thanks be to God, as MÜSİAD we have to date carried out many fine works in terms of providing employment and increasing investment. In 2024 and in the following periods too, these works of ours will continue and increase, with God's permission.

We believe that our economic and commercial contacts, especially with European countries and with Germany, will increase much further in the coming periods and will reach better levels. In this regard, our efforts to raise trade diplomacy to the highest levels through our MÜSİAD branches and representative offices in Germany will also continue.

With our new Hesse Office, which we have opened, we have increased our strength both in Europe and in Germany a little further. Now, with a total of 26 branches, 10 of them in Germany, the MÜSİAD wind will blow much more strongly in the geography of Europe from now on, God willing. May God be pleased with everyone who has laboured.

Esteemed friends,

As I conclude my words here, I wish that this meeting of ours may be a means of goodness for our country. I greet with respect and reverence all our companions in the cause who, with their striving, their labour and the sweat of their brow, have contributed to bringing our MÜSİAD to these days…

Now we will hold our consultations together, we will plan the coming period, and God willing we will leave this hall having held a fruitful meeting.

May God protect you.

Mahmut Asmalı

President of MÜSİAD