“OUR HONORARY CONSULS CAN OPEN THE DOOR TO NEW COLLABORATIONS AND COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES”

The “World Honorary Consuls Trade and Diplomacy Summit” will also be organized simultaneously with the MÜSİAD EXPO 2020 Fair, to be held on 18-21 November by the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD). At the event, which will be implemented under the coordination of the MÜSİAD Diplomatic Relations Committee, more than 100 honorary consuls will come together with visitors.

Honorary consuls, who help develop our country's economic, commercial, social and cultural relations and play a leading role in the promotion of Türkiye, also make important contributions to foreign trade expansion and to attracting direct foreign investment.

Aware of this, the MÜSİAD Diplomatic Relations Committee is leading the participation of Türkiye's Honorary Consuls from all over the world in the MÜSİAD EXPO 2020 Fair, to be held on 18-21 November 2020.

In this context, it is planned to organize the “World Honorary Consuls Trade and Diplomacy Summit” simultaneously with the MÜSİAD EXPO 2020 Fair. It is envisaged that more than 100 honorary consuls will come together with visitors at the event, which will be implemented under the coordination of the MÜSİAD Diplomatic Relations Committee.

“We Want to Strengthen This Network Even Further”

‘’Since the day the COVID-19 pandemic began, Türkiye has shown how strong its internal dynamics and its production and organization capacity are. Our country's proactive attitude in meeting the aid requests coming from more than a hundred countries in the field of health is commendable,” said President Abdurrahman Kaan, underlining that as MÜSİAD they take this stance as an example.

Emphasizing that Türkiye has risen to an effective position in its region and a respected position on a global scale through the political and economic steps it has taken particularly in recent times, Kaan said:

“As Turkish business people and investors, we want to turn this situation into an advantage. With its geopolitical position, Türkiye lies at a critical junction connecting Asia, Europe and Africa. As the MÜSİAD family, through all the events we hold, led by the MÜSİAD EXPO Fair, we carry out intense commercial diplomacy activity in order to increase our country's market share abroad. In this context, our honorary consuls also play a very important role. The “World Honorary Consuls Trade and Diplomacy Summit” that we will organize simultaneously with MÜSİAD EXPO will also be an important step at this point. ”

"We Are Very Pleased to See the Keen Interest of Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs"

MÜSİAD Diplomatic Relations Committee Chairman Zeki Güvercin, for his part, noted in his assessment that honorary consuls achieve important openings in favour of Türkiye in the countries where they are located.

Pointing out that the fact that honorary consuls work on a voluntary basis offers them a broad field of action, Güvercin said: “Representatives of diplomatic missions are appointed to another country when their duty regions change. Or they are given duties in their own countries. Honorary consuls, on the other hand, can carry these titles for life and work in line with their missions. The United Nations Organization is not indifferent to this institution based on volunteering either. Although they act in coordination with the official institutions of the country they represent, since they consist of civilian - non-official persons, they have a freer field of action. Most honorary consuls are business people. They support their work with their own means. They have a very good network in the countries of which they are principal citizens. In terms of representation, they can meet with both the public and the private sector, with cultural circles and with the academic community, with all of these fields. It is observed that around the world the institution of Honorary Consulship is attached greater importance especially by countries that do not have a widespread diplomatic mission network. Their duty is to develop, in a permanent manner and by creating added value, the multiple relations between the country they represent and the country of which they are citizens. Sources state that the number of honorary consuls, expressed as 20 thousand 10 years ago, has increased even further today. Türkiye is very fortunate in this sense. It has honorary consuls whose commercial volume requires a multi-supplier network. On the occasion of MÜSİAD Expo, we want to strengthen this network even further. We are very happy to be seeing the close interest and attention of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs on this matter.”