Gürsel Baran, Chairman of Ankara Chamber of Commerce, Ankara Has a Significant Production Capacity

 “WE SEE THAT MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY PRODUCTS ARE AT THE FIRST RANK IN ANKARA EXPORT”

 “WE WANT TO TURN OUR CAPITAL AT ANATOLIA'S DOOR TO THE WORLD”

Details from our conversation:

How would you evaluate the export potential in Ankara on the basis of product and sector, in terms of Ankara's geographical location and other advantages? How has this potential developed over the years?

“Although Ankara is the center of politics and bureaucracy due to being the Capital of the Republic of Turkey, it has also become the center of industry and trade with the investments made in recent years. 12 of the 350 Organized Industrial Zones established throughout Turkey operate in Ankara. In these regions, where a wide range of production is carried out with a total size of more than 60 million square meters, production is carried out for the domestic and foreign markets. Ankara industry, which consists of small and medium-sized enterprises, is concentrated in regions such as OSTİM and İvedik. Recently, Kahramankazan, Akyurt and Çubuk districts have been added to these regions and these districts have become industrial points where important investments are made. With its organized industrial zones, our city makes significant contributions not only to the provincial economy but also to the country's economy.

Ankara, which has 22 universities, both public and foundation, is among the cities where university-industry cooperation takes place the most. It is also a leading city in technology production and development. We have 10 Technology Development Centers, namely Technocity, eight of which are active, two of which are under construction, 119 R&D and 43 Design Centers. The defense industry has a special importance in the industry of the capital, as it is a strategic sector for our country. We can also call our city the base of the defense industry. More than half of the defense industry companies in Turkey are located in Ankara. ASELSAN, ROKETSAN, HAVELSAN, TUSAŞ are among the main actors of the Turkish defense industry and their headquarters are in Ankara. Many SMEs in the supply chains of these companies also make serious contributions to the defense industry. The defense industry systems produced in the capital are exported to many countries. Likewise, our medical industry has developed. Our medical industry, which meets the medical device needs of public and university hospitals, exports abroad. Our city also has an important place in the furniture industry. Carpenters, lacquerers and upholsterers operate in Ankara Siteler.

Ankara has added tourism to its development in trade and industry in recent years. It has a serious potential in health tourism as well as culture, congress and fair tourism. Ankara, which has districts with geothermal resources, especially Ayaş, Beypazarı, Haymana and Kızılcahamam, has the potential to become the health tourism center of both Turkey and the region with city hospitals in Bilkent and Etlik. Ankara, which provides high-tech health services with its public and private hospitals, is advantageous for health tourism with its existing health facilities, trained manpower and technological infrastructure. When evaluated in terms of educational tourism, it hosts the best universities in Turkey.

Esenboğa Airport, which provides world-class service, offers direct flights to many destinations abroad. New destinations are being added to the existing destinations every day. Located in the heart of the country geographically, Ankara is a center with high-speed train connections and road connections from nearby cities. With this location and connections, Ankara is like a bridge, a gate that connects Anatolia to the world.

Ankara's potential is important in positioning our country as the world's new production and supply center during the pandemic process. We have sufficient production capacity, workforce and resources in this regard. We are working to make Ankara the capital of production, trade and tourism in the world. As Ankara Chamber of Commerce, we want to make our capital the gateway of Anatolia to the world, with our meetings, seminars and trainings aimed at improving our members and employees, with our activities aimed at developing our city, especially on e-commerce and e-export, geographically indicated products, branding and tourism.”

“United States of America Takes the First Place in Ankara’s Exports”

When we look at the export products in Ankara, which products do we see, and which countries are these products sent to?

“Ankara is a city where 12 Organized Industrial Zones are located. Therefore, it is not only the center of bureaucracy but also the center of industry. While there are approximately 160 thousand commercial enterprises registered in our Ankara Chamber of Commerce, more than 8 thousand enterprises with industry registration certificates operate in our province. Although half of this is micro-enterprises employing 1 to 10 people, all of the industrial production is carried out in these enterprises. When we look at Ankara's exports, we see that manufacturing industry products are in the first place. Agricultural and forestry products are in the second place, and mining products are in the third place.

When we look at the sub-branches of the manufacturing industry, chemicals and products ranked first with 1.4 million dollars, machinery and components came second with 1.4 million, and mining products came in third with 1.1 million. The defense industry should also be mentioned here. Our defense industry exports, which rose to 1.3 billion dollars before the pandemic, are approaching 1 billion dollars. The United States ranks first in Ankara's exports. The USA is followed by China, Germany, Iraq, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. More than half of our exports are to these countries.”

“As Ankara Chamber of Commerce, We Carry out Studies to Improve Exports”

What are the incentives and supports given to the relevant companies in order to increase the export potential in Ankara? What can you say about all kinds of incentives and support for exporting companies in general? Are these enough? What are your suggestions?

“Exports in our country are supported by our Ministry of Trade in various ways. With the return to the export-based growth strategy, the developments in these supports continue. In addition to the support provided to exporting companies through Eximbank, there are many supports such as fair support, market entry support, support for digital activities, branding and Turquality support, buyer loan and insurance compensation support, and design support. In addition to these, there are also project-based supports under the name of Supporting the Development of International Competitiveness (URGE). As Ankara Chamber of Commerce, we have carried out a URGE project in the medical industry, which is the most open production area of ??our city, in the past years, and we have increased the export capacity of our city by developing the medical industry. Apart from this, we have started the "Project for Increasing the Competitiveness of the Service Sector", known as HİSER, to contribute to the development of Ankara in health tourism. In this context, we will ensure that Ankara develops in health tourism with the studies we will carry out for 3 years with a group that includes health centers and travel agencies.

In addition to these, we, as Ankara Chamber of Commerce, carry out studies to improve exports. We come together with the ambassadors and trade attachés in our capital, and we try to cooperate to improve the trade of our city. As Ankara Chamber of Commerce, we have traditionally been holding “Commercial Attachés Meetings” in the past years. You know, trade attaches are the eyes and ears of business people in their countries. The meetings held with the participation of trade attaches of different countries, representatives of non-governmental organizations and our members were very productive. Unfortunately, we have not been able to carry out this organization, which is almost identified with the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, for the last few years due to the pandemic, but our contacts continue. We are in constant contact with the Embassies of the countries in Ankara. We held the Business Forum with Brussels in the past months. We hosted the Belgian Ambassador, the Prime Minister of the Brussels-Capital Region and the Minister of State for Foreign Relations. We shared our views on developing mutual commercial relations. We also signed a cooperation protocol with the Turkish-Belgian Luxembourg Trade Association. Before that, we hosted the Cuban Ambassador in our Chamber. In order to develop commercial relations with Turkey, the Ambassador proposed a meeting with the Ankara Chamber of Commerce that will bring together business people in his country in a virtual environment. Again with the joint organization of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Ankara and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, we held the "Business Opportunities Information Seminar with Sri Lanka", and then signed the "Goodwill Agreement" to develop commercial cooperation between the two countries. These are just a few of the conversations we've had in the last few weeks that come to mind right now. We have hosted the ambassadors of many countries, from Albania to Portugal, from Bangladesh to Finland, from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Zimbabwe, from Malta to Brazil, the Philippines, Seychelles, and France, in our Chamber and had conversations about to improve our exports.

“Ankara Has A Significant Production Capacity”

Turkey is running towards a target of 250 billion dollars in exports this year. What do you think should be done to attract a significant part of this potential to Ankara? What kind of duties do companies, the state and NGOs have in this regard?

“Turkey's success in exports is really important, it is an indicator of our production power. Our dynamic real sector has the flexibility to produce in any field that is needed. He uses this flexibility by following the world well. As I have just mentioned, Ankara has an important production capacity. In fact, we estimate that its exports are above the current figures. It can only be registered for the exports of other provinces as of the point of origin.

Of course, NGOs also have a role to play in order for Ankara to attract investment and increase its exports. Among the unchanging issues of our agenda is the development of exports. We hold periodic meetings with foreign investors to improve investments.

By organizing Geographical Indications Product Summits, we tried to activate the potential in these products. We brought up the issue of branding by holding Ankara Brand Meetings. Our main purpose in these organizations is to develop the urban economy with investment and production.

At this point, it is very important to increase direct flights abroad. Direct transportation is important for investment, production and tourism. That's why we are working to increase direct international flights from Esenboğa. With these studies, direct flights from Esenboğa to Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London and many other cities started. We are also working on adding new destinations to these destinations.

In short, as Turkey's second largest chamber, we are working hard to bring Ankara to the economic levels it deserves, together with our members, our government and our stakeholders, and we move forward together. Both on behalf of our Chamber and on behalf of all non-governmental organizations and related institutions in the Capital, I can say that the sole purpose of each of our citizens in the Capital is to bring Ankara to its real potential.”