The 18th MÜSİAD EXPO Trade Fair, to be held at the TÜYAP İstanbul Expo Center between 18 and 21 November 2020, will offer a ‘hybrid fair’ experience for the first time this year. Held under the auspices and with the participation of President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the fair is preparing to host more than 100,000 visitors representing over 40,000 companies. More than 8,000 B2B business meetings are targeted at the fair.

MÜSİAD, Türkiye's most widespread and largest capital platform on a global scale, and TÜYAP, Türkiye's largest fair organizer, will join forces to stage a major event that will resonate worldwide. The 18th MÜSİAD Expo Trade Fair, to be held for the first time at the TÜYAP İstanbul Fair and Congress Centre on 18-21 November as a predominantly physical hybrid event, is preparing to host 100,000 visitors representing more than 40,000 companies across 6 halls in an area of 60,000 square metres. Online, the number of visitors is expected to reach millions. More than 8,000 B2B business meetings are targeted at the fair.

The fair, which will be attended by foreign purchasing delegations from 88 countries, chiefly Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Libya, Qatar, Nigeria, South Africa, Iran, Iraq and Venezuela, will also host many events.

One of these important meetings is the International Business Forum (IBF), which will be attended by industrialists and business people from all over the world.

In addition, the ‘MÜSİAD-World Honorary Consuls Trade and Diplomacy Summit’, which will bring together honorary consuls regarded as important players in international trade, will also be held within the scope of the fair. The participation of 82 honorary consuls in this summit has been confirmed.

The MÜSİAD World General Administrative Board (GİK) will also be held within the scope of the fair.

At the event, which will be carried out without disregarding the Mask, Distance and Hygiene rule in any way, all participants and visitors will be admitted after meticulous checks, and contactless technologies will be made available in the fair area. Special teams will be on duty for crowd control and disinfection operations.

THE FAIR'S FIRSTS

Speaking at the press conference held to give detailed information about the MÜSİAD EXPO Trade Fair, MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan said that MÜSİAD, which has contact points in 95 countries, is an association with a broad organizational network, and that intensive participation from abroad by ministers, senior bureaucrats, governors, deputies, mayors, chamber and commodity exchange presidents, foreign purchasing delegations, members of the press and distinguished business people is therefore expected at the fair.

Kaan continued his speech as follows:

“MÜSİAD EXPO, which will enable the business people of our country to develop their businesses by making contact with the entire world in the fields of production, trade, exports and investment, is an extremely important event at such a difficult time that the whole world is going through. There are no words to describe the happiness we feel at organizing such an event. This happiness is the happiness of being useful to our country and of proving our faith in these lands to the whole world as MÜSİAD.”

Recalling that MÜSİAD has to date signed a total of 193 MoU agreements with various institutions and organizations, Kaan also noted that at MÜSİAD EXPO 2020 they will sign MoU agreements with 20 new counterpart organizations from 4 continents, thereby taking a step towards the development of exports and commercial relations between countries.

In his speech, Kaan stated that one of MÜSİAD EXPO's firsts this year would be the ‘Entrepreneurship Area’ to be opened for the first time. Noting that investments which have become an important strength of Türkiye and which resonate around the world will meet visitors in this hall, Kaan said, “At the event that will bring investors and entrepreneurs together, the creation of new business areas will be ensured. A direct contribution to employment in Türkiye is targeted. We believe that the world's leading investors will take part in the fair and hold important talks in the entrepreneurship hall.”

Recalling that as MÜSİAD they have developed many projects in order to contribute further to the country's development and economy, Kaan also stated that they will share the details of these projects, and some of them for the first time, with visitors within the scope of the fair.
 
Noting that they have made room for caravan manufacturers at this year's EXPO, Kaan added that national electric vehicles will also be exhibited within the scope of the EXPO.

WHY HYBRID?

Stating that the MÜSİAD EXPO preparations are being made meticulously because of COVID-19, which is affecting the world, TÜYAP General Manager İlhan Ersözlü also mentioned that MÜSİAD EXPO, which is preparing to be the largest predominantly physical fair event after the pandemic, will offer a ‘hybrid fair’ experience for those who cannot attend because of the outbreak. Noting that 200 companies will take part in the fair physically and that there will also be national participations from Venezuela, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Congo and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ersözlü also stated that they have integrated virtual fair services into the fair and that the virtual fair will continue for 10 days.

Ersözlü gave the following information on the subject:

“The exhibitors of the fair, which is preparing to host thousands of businessmen and industrialists attending in person in line with social distancing rules, will be able to come together with fair visitors and do business on the digital platform not only in the fair area but even after the fair ends, thanks to the technological infrastructure provided by TÜYAP. Contactless technologies will be made available in the fair area, which all participants and visitors will be able to enter after meticulous checks. One hall has been set aside solely for this. Special teams will be on duty for crowd control and disinfection operations.”

Speaking at the meeting, Hıfsı Soydemir, Chairman of the MÜSİAD Foreign Economic Relations Committee and of EXPO, said that the fair had been organized in keeping with the spirit of MÜSİAD and had placed people at its centre, adding, “We will hold a fair that many of our members and Türkiye have longed for.”

Speaking about the fair, which will be held under the slogan Global Trade is Here, MÜSİAD High Board Chairman Fatih Keçebir underlined that the 18th MÜSİAD Expo Trade Fair is ready to host 100,000 visitors representing more than 40,000 companies across 6 halls in an area of 60,000 square metres, and that online they expect the number of visitors to reach millions.