SME Hospıtal and European Network Project which is sustaining by Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, meeting was done in Akrones Thermal Hotel. Afyonkarahisar Governor Mustafa Tutulmaz, Romanian Ambassador Gabriel Șopanda, Deputy Mayor of Afyonkarahisar Murat Öner, Rector of Afyon Kocatepe University Dr. Mehmet Karakaş, Rector of Afyonkarahisar University of Health Sciences Dr. Nurullah Okumuş, Romanian Embassy Ambassador Undersecretary Corneliu Diaconita, Lithuanian Embassy Undersecretary Vaida Stankeviciene, Chairman of Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hüsnü Serteser, Chairman of Afyon Commodity Exchange, ATSO Board Members, Assembly Members, Professional Committees Turkey Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges Afyonkarahisar Women and Young Entrepreneurs Board, Executive Committee Members and business people attended.

PAY ATTENTION WITH THE NAME

Opening speech of the program was realized by the Chairman of Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hüsnü Serteser and said that “In our project, we have determined Sibiu Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture from Romania, Siauliai Chamber of Commerce and Industry from Lithuania as foreign partners. The local partners of the project were the Afyonkarahisar Commodity Exchange and Bingöl Chamber of Commerce and Industry being one of the Sister Chambers Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In this project, which draws attention with its name, we will set out from the fact that most of our businesses are SMEs. The problems of SMEs will be identified first and then they will be treated. We made our first visit to Lithuania and the second to Romania as part of the project. We thank you for the hospitality we saw in both countries.”

Serteser reminded that Afyonkarahisar entered the UNESCO Gastronomic Creative Cities Network and continued his speech as “We are also happy to welcome our project partners, our guests, to our Afyonkarahisar, which is among the 3 provinces that entered the UNESCO Gastronomic Creative Cities Network. The greatest labor here is our Governor. I would like to thank our governor, our mayor, our previous mayor, our Zafer Development Agency and many other institutions and organizations that we cannot name. Afyonkarahisar has registered the status of being the capital of thermal, marble and victory”

BILATERAL RELATIONS ARE DEVELOPING

Serteser said that between Turkey and Romania there are strong relationships. A Strategic Partnership Document was signed in 2011 to take our relations further in every field. Our mutual trade volume with Romania is 6.4 billion dollars. The goal of our country is to increase the trade volume to 10 billion dollars. We export automotive spare parts, vehicles, iron and steel products, agricultural products, machinery industry products to Romania. We buy iron and steel scrap, iron and steel products, processed petroleum products, vehicles, telephone equipment, automotive spare parts, sunflower seeds, chemical fertilizers from Romania. According to the Turkey Statistical Institute data, our exports to Romania in 2018 to 3 billion 877 million dollars; Our imports from Romania are 2 billion 445 million dollars. We hope that this project will be effective in diversifying the trade.

HISTORICAL TIES

Within the scope of our project, we also hosted the Lithuanian delegation in our city. Turkey, after the Lithuania's occupation by the Soviet Union in 1940, followed recognition of the annexation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union it has resumed diplomatic relations between Turkey and Lithuania on September 3, 1991. Turkey supported Lithuania’s membership to NATO and Lithuania entered NATO in 2004. Lithuania supports Turkey's membership in EU. The bilateral trade between Turkey and Lithuania have been realized as 687 million dollars in 2018. According to Turkey Statistical Institute data, our exports to Lithuania are 277 million dollars and our imports from Lithuania are 410 million dollars. We hope that, this project ensures that trade relationship between the two countries is carried out in a more balanced way. We also have an unknown connection with Lithuania. From the first half of the fourteenth century, the Great Lithuanian Prince, Witold allowed the Turks to settle in Lithuania. Turks who have been resident, known as Tatar Village-Turkish Village. In addition, the graves of our soldiers who were injured on the Galician Front during World War I and sent to Lithuania for treatment and are martyred here are located in the Vingis Military Cemetery in the capital city of Vilnius.”

MANY COOPERATION AREAS

Lithuanian Embassy Commercial Counselor Vaida Stankeviciene also focused on cooperation opportunities. Stankeviciene said that, "Turkey's Ministry of Commerce in the first quarter of next year will participate in an organized event. We expect Turkish businesses to participate in such a Business Forum. We have adopted the Smart Cities orientation. It is planned to use more technology and to benefit from more information technologies. We hope that relations between Turkey and Lithuania will develop in this direction. We have many cooperation areas like construction, tourism, innovation, digitalization infrastructure, cooperation and sharing of experience among universities are the primary ones. I wish that Afyonkarahisar province will cooperate more with Lithuania

PREPARE TO THE FUTURE

Mustafa Tutulmaz, the Governor of Afyonkarahisar, emphasized that Afyonkarahisar is developing positively with the investments of entrepreneurs. Having such an event in Afyonkarahisar, under the leadership of our Chamber of Commerce and Industry, be able to gain interest of our entrepreneurs, who are the major sources of income of our city, and will be useful for our city. Afyonkarahisar has a structure that makes almost all of its investments with Small and Medium Entrepreneurships. Since, our companies are generally in the form of family businesses, most of them are formed by trial and error method; most of them go with their feet on the ground. However, it has a structure that there are some difficulties in growing. It will enable us to better prepare for the future by treating diseases from the past with the SME Hospital and European Network project.

AN EFFICIENT PANEL IS ORGANIZED

After the opening speeches, question-answer session was organized under the moderation of Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Secretary General Ali Şenol. Corneliu Diaconita (Undersecretary of Embassy of the Romanian Embassy), Sibiu Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Department Director of Project and Partnership Anca Muntean, Siualiai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tradesman Alfredas Jonuska and Senior Officer of Siualiai Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tradesmen Daiva Jonuskiene attended to the meeting. After the panel, the meeting ended with the presentation of mutual gifts.

Date:9.11.2019

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