 Dear Taba Members
Managing Directors of the American Companies
THOMAS DONOHUE and GARY LITMAN VISITED TABA AMCHAM
Taba Amcham hosted Mr. Thomas Donohue ( President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Chambers of Commerce in Washington ) and Gary Litman ( Vice President in charge of Europe / Eurasia ) , at a luncheon on April 17 , at Çıragan Palace hotel . As you might have watched on T.V. channels , their visits to Turkey found extensive coverage in Turkish media . They had to proceed a very tight program during their three days stay in Istanbul and Ankara where they have been accepted by Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit his deputies Mesut Yılmaz and Devlet Bahçeli . They also met State Ministers Tunca Toskay and Kemal Derviş , in addition to the Chairmen of a lot of influential Associations such as TOBB , DEİK , TÜSİAD , YASED , İ.K.V. , Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Istanbul Chamber of Industry . They attended numerous press conferences and T.V. interviews .
They had a special request before they came that their first meeting in Turkey should be organized by their affiliated organization Taba Amcham ; closed to press , off the records and only open to Taba Board members , Chairmen of the Taba Amcham Committees and the Representatives of the American Companies or Institutions . We are therefore sorry of not having informed this event prior to the meeting We tried however to put down the whole minutes of the meeting , to inform our members and non - membering American Companies who did not attend the luncheon as follows .
- Opening speech by Dr. Zeynel Abidin Erdem
- Taba Amcham at present and in the future by Mehmet Tanberk
- Speech Delivered by Thomas J. Donohue
OPENING SPEECH by Dr . ZEYNEL ABİDİN ERDEM Chairman of TABA
Your Excellency , Consul General Urbancic
Our distinguished guests Mr.Thomas Donohue , Dear members Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure that I address this honorable group as the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Turkey . It is a privilege to join you here today . I take this opportunity to share my vision of a growing relationship between Turkey and this great Country , the United States of America , which is among the Turkey's real friends . United States has always proven to be a friend of Turkey . As we all know Turkey is going through the most serious economic crisis in its history . America since the beginning of this crisis has supported Turkey both politically and financially . Both as a Turkish citizen and the Chairman of Turkish American Business Association , I am moved to thank the U.S. for its vote of confidence in these difficult times . Turkey on the other hand just like in Korea , during the Gulf War , Somalia , Bosnia , Kosovo and now in Afghanistan will continue to support United States as an ally and friend as the true defenders of democracy and freedom in the world . I believe there is still room to expand the ties between our Countries as we build both trade and direct investments on our historic partnership . For example I believe that Turkey deserves to enjoy the same trading terms and conditions between the European Union and the U.S. Turkey is entitled to this , as a member of the Custom Union of E.U. Most importantly both our Countries would greatly benefit from the economic reward and prosperity this would generate . We have an important role to promote the identity of being an American Chamber of Commerce in Turkey . I wish a warm welcome to our guests Mr Donohue , Mr Litman and their colleagues .
TABA AMCHAM at PRESENT and FUTURE
by MEHMET TANBERK General Manager of TABA
WHAT IS TABA AMCHAM TODAY ?
a) The largest Association of its kind with 680 members founded in 1987
Breakdown of the members by Companies :
133 members . Representative of the American Companies
290 members . Turkish Companies doing business with U.S.
166 members . Turkish Companies planning business with U.S.
91 members . Representative of large Turkish or foreign Companies .
b) The largest American and Turkish Companies are represented
c) The only Association having Chapters in 7 cities of Turkey
Breakdown of Chapters by number of members :
Istanbul Head Office 424 members
Adana Chapter 56 members
Ankara Chapter 67 members
Antalya Chapter 21 members
Denizli Chapter 39 members
Gaziantep Chapter 20 members
İzmir Chapter 53 members
WHAT ARE THE MISSIONS TO CREATE THE FUTURE TABA ?
a)ENHANCE BUSINESS RELATIONS BETWEEN U.S. and TURKEY
b)ENCOURAGE INVESTMENTS TO TURKEY FROM U.S.
c)INITIATE CULTURAL and PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
d)CREATE VALUES FOR MEMBERS
e)BUILD UP AN INFLUENTIAL IMAGE as AMERICAN CHAMBER
A ) STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE BUSINESS RELATIONS
a) INVOLVEMENT OF MEMBERS INTO THE ACTIVITIES
1- SECTORIAL COMMITTEES and Chairmen
TEXTILE Ahmet Öksüz
CONSTRUCTION Hasan Çelebican
TOURISM Talha Çamaş
E-TRADE Ayşe Yılmaz
ENERGY Yüksel Güler
FINANCE Okan Altuğ
IMPORT-EXPORT Peter Rodwell
2 - ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEES and Chairmen
AMCHAM RELATIONS Uğur Terzioğlu
a) Cooperation with Chambers of Caucasus nations
b) Cooperation with American Chamber in Israel
LEGAL AFFAIRS Tevfik Gür
PUBLICATION Ahmet Ramazanoğlu
STRATEGY VISION Halim Neyzi
ACTIVITIES Mehmet Karakaş
GOV. RELATIONS Dr. Z.A. Erdem
b)WEBSITE DESIGN
1-INFORMATION ABOUT ACTIVITIES
2-LINKS WITH OTHER AMERICAN CHAMBERS
c) E-MAIL COMMUNICATION
a. NEWS & BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES TO MEMBERS
b. OPEN PLATFORM FOR MEMBERS
c. THIRD PARTIES MAILING
. From Turkey about U.S.
- How to establish business in certain States
- Institutes representing the sectors
- Partnership research
- Product promotion
. From U.S. about Turkey
- Product promotion
. The importance of Third Parties Communication
- Services to small&medium size Companies
- Taba image is strengthened
- New members are gained
. WE PROPOSE
- Quick and informal contacts with Commercial Department like we have with Visa Department
- A similar communication with American Chamberce
- Informations to be channelled through Taba
d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER ASSOCIATIONS
a) Joining to the ESTABLISHMENT of Caucasus Cooperation
1-Attended a meeting in Baku
2-Participated to another one in Yerevan
3-We organized a meeting in İstanbul on December 6 , to deal with important issues such as custom tariff harmonization , exemption of custom duties on export items in transit , can Caucasus countries be benefitted in case Qualified industrial zones are established in Turkey through joint production ventures
4-This meeting was boycotted by Armenian group due to a press conference statement of an American high ranking officer saying that genocide claim has not been proven .
. WE PROPOSE
American Chambers of Commerce support us to reunite this group for possible trade development activities in Caucasus
b) EDI agreement (An Israeli company promoting Turkish product )
c) IESC Connection ( International Executive Services Corps )
d) Promoting AISEC in student exchange
e) Communication with Main STATE CHAMBERS in U.S.
f) Contacts with Federation of Turkish American Associations Inc in New York and ATAA in Washington DC .
g) Organization of Conferences with MICROSOFT and KOÇ HOLDING to promote e-commerce to Taba members
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