TÜSİAD International, the “Strategic Business Development” unit of TÜSİAD and DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations Board) Turkey-China Business Council organized a conference titled “Understanding & Doing Business with China”, on September 11th, 2012, in Swissotel the Bosphorus, in Istanbul. The conference assessed the economic dynamics of China with their impacts on the global economy and current conditions of doing business with China.
The opening speeches of the conference sponsored by Citibank, were given by Ms. Ümit Boyner, President of the Board of Directors of TÜSİAD, Mr. Hüsnü Özyeğin, the Chairman of the DEİK Turkey-China Business Council, and Mr. Gong Xiaosheng, the Ambassador of China in Ankara. Following the opening speeches, the conference proceeded with the opening session, moderated by Mr. Osman F. Boyner, President of TÜSİAD International. Ms. Serra Akçaoğlu, General Manager of Citibank Turkey and Mr. Andrew Au, CEO of Citibank China made their presentations in this session.
The opening speech of Ms. Ümit Boyner addressed the issue of visa practices in the context of developing the collaboration between Turkey and China and underlined the importance of long-term, multi entry visas in enhancing the relations between the two countries. Ms. Boyner remarked that with a trade volume of 24 billion dollars in 2011, Turkey has become one of the most important trade partners of China. She indicated that being a country merging the European standards and the Asian dynamism, Turkey is in the position of “closest European country to China”, not only geographically, but also with regard to entrepreneurship, creativity, pragmatism and cultural openness.
The conference of business representatives of Turkey and China held two sessions. The sessions were moderated by Mr. Aykut Eken, Vice President of TÜSİAD International, and Member of Board of Auditors of DEİK, and Mr. Hüsnü Özyeğin, the Chairman of the DEİK Turkey-China Business Council
During the conference, medium and long term trends of Chinese economy, 12th Five Year Plan of China, global impacts of the economic dynamics of China and the aspects of an adequate economic strategy towards China for Turkey were discussed comprehensively.