TURKONFED President Orhan Turan: “Concordat Announcements Affect the Economic Life Deeply”

The TURKONFED 22^nd Enterprise and Business Summit was held on 16-17 November in Hatay. The theme of the summit was “Strong Enterprises, Strong Economy”. While the summit was hosted by DASIFED, in attendance were TURKONFED President Orhan Turan and TUSIAD President Erol Bilecik.

TURKONFED President Orhan Turan mentioned many issues from payment and collection struggles of SMEs, and high interests of bank guarantees to concordatum and value added tax. He also stated: “Recently the increase in concordat announcements are affecting the economic life deeply”. TUSIAD President Erol Bilecik said: “In general, there is no growing cheap with well-lined purse anymore. Those days are over”.

17 Nov 2018/  With 29 federations, 244 associations, 25.000 business person and close to 40.000 companies, the biggest business association in Turkey that is independent and operates on a voluntary basis, Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED) organized the 22^nd Enterprise and Business Summit, while Doğu Akdeniz Sanayi ve İş Dünyası Federasyonu (DASİFED) hosted the event.

The opening speeches of the “Strong Enterprises, Strong Economy” themed summit were delivered by Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Assoc. Prof. Lütfü Savaş, TURKONFED President Orhan Turan, TUSIAD President Erol Bilecik, DASIFED President Faruk Ekinci and Hatay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Hikmet Çinçin.

Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Assoc. Prof. Lütfü Savaş stated that in the last 7 years all economic indicators in Hatay have regressed. Also mentioning the Syrian refugee crisis issue, Savaş continued: “Exportation to 14 countries have stopped. We have lost 1/3 of our economy. In 2012, our per capita income was around 7.618 $. It is now 6.120 $. We were the 7^th biggest economy, but now we are the 13^th biggest economy in Turkey. We were the 13^th most densely populated city and now we are rank the 7^th”.