GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPEECH
GEBZE / 10 January 2023
Our Honourable Branch President and Distinguished Members of the Board of Directors,
My esteemed brothers and sisters of Gebze,
I greet you all with respect and affection,
I pray to Almighty God that our General Assembly may be a means of goodness.
Our esteemed members, distinguished guests,
We are on the threshold of a brand-new era. This year is the 100th Year of our Republic. 2023 is also the year in which the Century of Türkiye begins. At such a delicate crossroads, every step, every move and every word of ours is very, very important.
MÜSİAD, Türkiye’s largest platform of cooperation and capital, continues on its way with this consciousness and enthusiasm, resolutely bringing together innovation with tradition, abundance with effort, enthusiasm with courage, reason with the heart, and theory with practice.
In our 33rd year we continue this blessed journey of ours, constantly renewing ourselves with the strength and inspiration we draw from our roots and changing the guard in certain periods. We strive to make the most correct and most productive use of our present for the sake of our independence and our future.
Esteemed guests,
Having reached a total of 165 branches and contact points worldwide, MÜSİAD, with its more than 13 thousand members and nearly 60 thousand companies, both provides added value to the Turkish economy and leads the development of diverse cooperation at home and abroad.
Let us not forget: MÜSİAD is not merely an association of businesspeople; it is at the same time an effective actor of commercial diplomacy operating in the international arena.
It is furthermore an institution of humanitarian diplomacy that rushes to the aid of migrants, of the oppressed and the aggrieved, and of brotherly and kindred communities.
We read the world from the perspective of our values of civilization, we take into account the spiritual dimension of each of our undertakings, and we take our steps with discernment. That is why MÜSİAD draws its true strength from the wisdom of Anatolia, from the sagacity of our nation and from idealist entrepreneurship.
Esteemed guests, my dear brothers and sisters,
The macroeconomic stability that will be established in the coming months and years as inflation begins to decline will support Türkiye in reaching its long-term economic targets. Indeed, the December 2022 inflation figure of 64.27 percent, indicating a decline of more than 20 points compared with the previous month, shows that the favourable course in the general level of prices is continuing. The most recently announced data indicate that the Turkish economy, which lost momentum in the third quarter, has regained speed as of the last quarter of the year. In addition to annual exports reaching their highest level in history at USD 254.2 billion and the increases in industrial production, the increases recorded in total employment also show that the vitality of economic activity rose in the last quarter.
As MÜSİAD, we have full confidence that the Turkish economy, which grew by 6.2 percent in the first 9 months of the year compared with the same period of the previous year, will continue its production-, export- and employment-oriented growth process in 2023 as well, the year it has entered with this motivation. Indeed, recent developments also show that the Türkiye Economy Model has slowly begun to bear its fruits. While the Turkish economy sustained its annual positive growth process in the last quarter as well, it became one of the best-growing countries of 2022, as it had been in 2021. In this framework we foresee that our country will achieve a growth performance above the world average in the 100th year of our Republic.
Esteemed guests, my dear brothers and sisters,
As MÜSİAD we must renew ourselves constantly and thereby remain young and vigorous. We can grow in a healthy manner by making our changes of guard and of flag judiciously and sincerely. With MÜSİAD Women and Young MÜSİAD, our family, which grows with each passing day, becomes still richer, and the spirit of MÜSİAD echoes in every stratum of society. With our sector boards and our rich organizational structure we penetrate right down to the capillary vessels of our economy. The success of our Branch General Assemblies is very important in order to make this strong structure of ours sustainable. In this respect I hope that the general assembly of our Gebze branch will pass successfully and that its results will be auspicious. I congratulate our esteemed board members who served in the previous term. I wish success to our colleagues who will newly take office. Let us not forget that these duties are the trust of our nation. Embracing the trust meticulously and as it deserves, and handing over our duties to our new colleagues when the time comes, increases the abundance and the grace bestowed upon us. Let us never let it slip from our minds that our greatest strength is the solidarity and alliance among us, and that we shall succeed as long as we act according to the law of brotherhood.
My dear brothers and sisters, our esteemed members,
As the MÜSİAD family we have very great responsibilities. In this new term we shall act with this consciousness. Without doubt the new term will have its difficulties and fields of struggle as well as its opportunities.
In the face of these difficulties we must stand utterly firm and upright, like a rock in the middle of a fiercely flowing river of high volume. Against the waves that come we must never break our stance, saying “you too shall pass! you too shall pass!” Blending our dignity with our humility, our courage with our prudence, our justice with our compassion, our reason with our heart, and our knowledge with our faith, we shall continue on our way with steadfastness.
As I conclude my words with these feelings and thoughts, I once again wish that our general assembly may be a means of goodness, and I wish success to our brothers and sisters who will take office in the new term.
Stay well. May God protect you.
President of MÜSİAD
Mahmut Asmalı