Golden Container Export Awards Ceremony 2024
19 September 2024
Honourable Minister,
Esteemed …..
Esteemed representatives of our business world,
Esteemed members of our MÜSİAD,
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
I respectfully greet you all…
Welcome to our Golden Container Export Awards Ceremony organized by our Young MÜSİAD; you have graced us with your presence…
This year we are holding the fourth edition of this important competition of ours, which each year enjoys greater enthusiasm and greater participation than the one before. This fine award, which we want to continue with ever-increasing interest from year to year, will, God willing, continue for many long years to reward our young entrepreneurs and our companies engaged in foreign trade.
With their determination and resolve, our young entrepreneurs and exporters who say “I too am part of global trade” today export from every corner of Türkiye to many parts of the world.
Our young people who took part in the Golden Container this year exported to a total of 66 countries in 2023, and this is truly a picture that makes us proud. With God's permission, our greatest wish is for this number to multiply in the coming periods.
Esteemed guests,
One of MÜSİAD's greatest strengths is the substantial support it has given to our young entrepreneurs from the very first day of its establishment. To raise young people who make it a principle to enter the entrepreneurship ecosystem, trade and the business world; to carry out work that is beneficial and of high added value for our country and our nation; and never to depart from the right path and from lawful earnings…
We are making every effort to provide our young people with every kind of support.
Since its establishment in 2002, Young MÜSİAD has gathered under its roof young people who are faithful, virtuous, competent, determined and enthusiastic. Under this roof, our young people have carried out important events and projects in a very short time.
I would like to touch briefly on just a few of the many projects carried out by our Young MÜSİAD…
The “Golden Container Export Awards”, one of the most important of these, is our program that presents awards with the aim of increasing the number of young people who contribute to our country's economy through exports and of encouraging our young people to export more.
The “International Young Businessmen Congress” (UGİK), held every two years, continues to be one of the most important events in Türkiye, guiding young people, university students and entrepreneurs, as well as being a platform where domestic and foreign academics and business people share their experience.
The “Young Trade Ambassadors Project” is an initiative that aims to develop the commercial skills of young entrepreneurs and business people, to enable them to establish business connections and to raise awareness of international trade. Within the scope of this project, young people gain experience by taking part in activities such as training programs, seminars, internship opportunities and international business trips.
Through our 3T program, “Get to Know - Introduce - Do Business”, the Young MÜSİAD members who take part get to know one another and thereby take the first step towards doing business together.
Similarly, the “Young Business Academy” program is a training and mentoring platform for young entrepreneurs and business people. Supported by various seminars, workshops and interactive training sessions, this program aims to enable participants to acquire the skills and knowledge they need in the business world.
With more than 4,500 members and with 60 representatives at home and 37 abroad, our Young MÜSİAD continues to work with great effort and determination for the young people of the country, striving to be of benefit to the national economy and to its socio-cultural fabric.
In this sense, our Young MÜSİAD continues on its way with an outlook that values not only cooperation but also unity of strength and of heart, that is committed to our cultural values and that brings being domestic and national to the fore in every project it carries out, and with the vision of the “Century of Türkiye”.
Therefore, every step they take and every duty they assume is for the sake of reaching these fine goals. May God be pleased with every one of them.
Esteemed guests,
We have great confidence in the energy of young people and in the entrepreneurship and boldness of youth. The determination, resolve and effort of our young people have always given us strength and energy for our future work as well.
This fine event, which has brought us together today, is also among the foremost of the important projects carried out by our Young MÜSİAD.
The Golden Container Export Awards, Türkiye's first and only Young Exporter Award Program, is the only award program in its field presented to young people under the age of 35 without requiring MÜSİAD membership. With the Golden Container, held for the fourth time this year, more than 25 awards in 15 different categories will meet their owners. The evaluations were made on the basis of 2023 figures.
Every single category of our award is important in its own right. Yet I believe it is necessary to mention a few in particular: the fact that it attaches special importance to women exporters through the Pearl of Exports Award is significant in sectoral terms. That it emphasizes environmental sensitivity through the Green Export Award is also noteworthy. In addition, with the “Rising Technology” and “Service Exports” categories added this year, we will, God willing, also reward the business fields of the future.
Esteemed guests,
At this awards ceremony, which we hold in order to encourage exports and especially exports made by young entrepreneurs, I would also like to touch briefly on the point our country has reached in exports:
The total export volume, which in the first 8 months of the year rose by %3.9 compared with the same period of the previous year to reach USD 170.8 billion, is advancing step by step towards the export target of USD 264 billion set within the scope of the Medium-Term Program.
In addition to export growth over the last 12 months reaching %3.5 as of August, the fact that the Export Climate Index indicates strengthening on a monthly basis for the 8th consecutive time offers quite positive signs for the future of external demand.
The support given to private sector investments with potential in terms of exports and employment must be increased, and new support packages must be introduced to support investment and exports in critical and strategic sectors. In particular, policies supporting exports of high value-added product groups must be increased.
Our greatest wish is that the service export target of USD 110 billion set for 2024 as a whole is met and that it continues to increase in the coming years. We as MÜSİAD are making every effort for this to be realized.
The most important point to be highlighted here is digital trade. Indeed, the volume of digital trade, which has reached USD 3.8 trillion globally, accounts for %54 of total services trade. In this field, in which especially young and dynamic entrepreneurs will take part, it is essential that our country's young people also make very good use of digital technologies.
God willing, the Golden Container Export Awards, one of the most important events of our Young MÜSİAD, will also contribute to this ecosystem.
Esteemed guests,
As I conclude my remarks, I thank all our friends who organized and contributed to the Golden Container Export Awards.
I greet with respect and reverence all business people who provide added value to the Turkish economy with their efforts, their labour and the sweat of their brow…
May God protect you.
Mahmut Asmalı
President of MÜSİAD