September 14, 2009

WASHINGTON DC - The 1st Annual Turkish American Chambers of Commerce Conference, entitled, “Turkish American Biz Power” was organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) on September 14th, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Read more The 1st Annual Turkish American Chambers of Commerce Conference, entitled, “Turkish American Biz Power” was organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers & Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) on September 14th, 2009 in Washington, D.C. The event’s program included a joint CSIS & TOBB meeting, a panel discussion, and a traditional Turkish Iftar dinner. Members of several Turkish-American Chambers of Commerce from various parts of the country, including California, Texas, Delaware, Maryland, Florida, New York, Georgia, Illinois and many Turkish businessmen from all around the US and even Barbados, Canada, Azerbaijan and Turkey were among the participants.

At the CSIS-TOBB joint event CEO & Chairman of the Board of The Coca-Cola Company Muhtar Kent stressed that “the United States needs a strong Turkey, and Turkey needs a strong United States.” Following Kent’s brief introduction, President of TOBB & DEIK, M. Rifat Hisarciklioglu talked about the current dynamics of the world economy and the impacts of the Global Crisis on Turkey. Hisarciklioglu warned that countries need to make sure that there is no drift towards protectionism, as countries need to work together to find a collaborative solution to this global crisis. During the traditional Turkish Iftar dinner, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the United States of America, Ambassador Nabi Sensoy also gave a speech about Turkey and US-Turkey relations and how effective Turkish businessmen would be in lobbying for the betterment of US-Turkey trade and economic relations.