International stands draw attention at MÜS?AD EXPO

By News Centre

The 20th MÜS?AD EXPO, aiming to enhance global trade, opened its doors this year with remarkable participant traffic. The event featured 2,150 participants from 115 countries. MÜS?AD's overseas representatives and company officials, who responded to Yeni ?afak's questions, expressed that the expo has already met their expectations.

Yüksel Çifçi, a Board Member of MÜS?AD Sydney, mentioned that they attended the fair with 24 companies from Australia this year. He noted that the MÜS?AD representative office in Sydney was established in 2018.

"We came from the other side of the world with 24 people. There is a good perception of Turkiye in Australia. They are always admirers of our country due to TV series. There is also competition at the fair, of course. These events provide significant contributions to us," said Çifçi.

He emphasized that businesspeople would visit Turkiye more frequently thanks to THY's Sydney flights and reach many countries via Turkiye.

"Turkiye is an important market for us. We view it positively. We see the potential, which is why we came. The fair is going well. Turks are hardworking people," added Pakistani representatives in the Australian delegation.

Another distant geography that drew attention was Venezuela's stand at MÜS?AD EXPO. Speaking about the fair and the trade volume between the two countries, MÜS?AD Venezuela President Hayri Küçükyavuz said they attended MÜS?AD EXPO with 25 companies this year, compared to 3 companies in 2022. He emphasized that this was their fourth participation in the fair. Küçükyavuz mentioned that after inspecting the Venezuela stand at MÜS?AD EXPO, the President of Taiwan proposed a commercial partnership, leading to an agreement to sell fish from Venezuela to Taiwan.

Küçükyavuz stated that trade between Venezuela and Turkiye increased more than tenfold following President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's visit to Venezuela.

"The trade between the two countries was not even worth $100 million before our President's visit. In fact, it was $30-40 million until 2018. It increased tenfold. Our exports rose to $350 million. The target is $1 billion. Bilateral trade exceeded approximately $1 billion. We import agricultural products like urea, gorda, and petcoke from Venezuela. We sell pasta, flour, chocolate, biscuits, cosmetics, motor oil, and makeup products. ?stikbal opened 5 stores in Venezuela, and LC Waikiki opened 15 stores. The number of Turkish companies in the country is rapidly increasing," he said.

MÜS?AD Cologne President Yunus Arslan noted that they participated in the fair with 16 members. Arslan highlighted that MÜS?AD’s Cologne representative office was established in 1993 as the first overseas representation of MÜS?AD.

"We strive for international trade. Previous fairs were more dynamic. I don't see that here, but this is a general problem, not specific to this fair. This situation is happening at all fairs worldwide after the pandemic. There is a financial stagnation," he said.

MÜS?AD Netherlands Vice President Emin ?skender commented, "The fair is busy. It could be better. We operate in 13-14 sectors. We are a large branch. We came with 8 companies. Transportation and customs issues exhaust us. The ministry needs to address this. We are making contacts for new collaborations. Sectors like dry food, construction, and furniture are prominent in partnerships." Mahmut Can Mi?eli, an official at the MÜS?AD Azerbaijan stand, emphasized that the fair was active and there was high demand for their products.