The "International Diplomacy Summit" was organized in Sakarya by the Diplomatic Relations Committee of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD).

Ambassadors, chargés d'affaires and commercial attachés from 20 countries are attending the summit held at a hotel in the Erenler district. Speaking there, MÜSİAD Global High Board Chairman Adnan Bostan said that the Association is a structure with 11,000 members and nearly 60,000 enterprises that provides employment for approximately 1.6 million people.

“The strongest, largest and most widespread civil society organization and global capital platform”

Stating that with an organizational network at 87 different points at home and 225 abroad they are Türkiye's strongest, largest and most widespread civil society organization and global capital platform, Bostan expressed that they operate across a broad spectrum ranging from information technologies to education and from energy to the services sector.

Noting that MÜSİAD serves as a bridge for Turkish investors to operate in foreign countries, Bostan explained that they contribute to the development of commercial cooperation by signing MoU (memorandum of understanding) agreements with the major NGOs and leading institutions of foreign countries.

Emphasizing that the Association plays a very important role on both the national and international scale, Bostan continued as follows:

"We are continuing our activities on a global scale. In this context, we declared 2018 the Year of Africa and undertook many initiatives. We declared 2019 the Year of Asia-Pacific and Latin America. In this direction, we plan to increase our country's trade volume with these regions. This year we will make sectoral business trips to Colombia, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Uzbekistan, India and Russia. We will also hold the opening of our Sydney, Australia and Kazakhstan branches this year."

"The Arab geography has a special place"

Noting that work directed towards the Arab world is also continuing rapidly, Bostan said: "The Arab geography has a special place in our eyes, both because of our shared experience of living together that comes from the past and because we are members of the same religion. Above all, we want to approach the matter with the consciousness of the ummah and establish a relationship based on brotherhood."

Drawing attention to the fact that there are nearly 3,500 companies registered with MÜSİAD that are described as "foreign" but are in fact formed by citizens of brotherly countries, Bostan noted the following:

"These companies do business in various lines of work in Türkiye. We came together and shared our experience so that they could benefit from the economic conditions, the law and the order and discipline in Türkiye, find new customers and open up to the world through MÜSİAD by expanding their network. We stood by them in the difficulties they experienced, we helped and supported them. I would like to state that we attach great importance to these matters."

Sakarya Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Yüce also said that he was pleased to host the participants in the city. Yüce expressed that the province has a structure operating in many sectors and lines of business.

On its second day, the program continued with the Summit of Ambassadors of D-8 Countries, held with the participation of Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Mehmet Cahit Turhan.

“We thank our elders who contributed to the establishment of this organization”

Speaking at the event, Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan said: "As Türkiye, we have never pursued unjust gain, neither in our history nor today. We have tried to abide by right and law in all our affairs. It has been so in our trade and in our business relations as well."

Noting that a period is being experienced in which communication and business relations take place very intensively, Turhan stated that many commercial partnerships have been established and that many countries have formed partnerships in order to develop their own business relations and, accordingly, their cultural and social relations, and to add strength to their power.

Expressing that D-8 was also established for this purpose, Turhan noted the following:

"We thank our elders who contributed to the establishment of this organization. In order for us to carry out with due merit this important duty they have left to us, we must act sincerely, with mutual understanding and with a win-win approach. As Türkiye, we have never pursued unjust gain, neither in our history nor today. We have tried to abide by right and law in all our affairs. It has been so in our trade and in our business relations as well. We will strive to leave the legacy our ancestors bequeathed to us to those who come after us in the same way. We are a nation that endeavours to conduct its trade accordingly, within an understanding of every kind of love and respect. Therefore, we must observe the rights and the law of the people of the countries with which we will work together. I believe that a togetherness formed within this understanding can be lasting. I believe that our relations with the D-8 countries should continue to develop."

After the summit, Minister Turhan, the MÜSİAD delegation and the accompanying ambassadors visited Türkiye Wagon Industry Inc. (TÜVASAŞ).