Turkish Exporters Carried Out B2B Meetings in Poland and The Czech Republic
Türkiye Exporters Assembly (TİM) organized Trade Delegations to Poland (Warsaw) and The Czech Republic (Prague) between May 30-June 3 under the coordination of the Ministry of Trade of The Republic of Türkiye. Within the Trade Delegations in which exporter companies from various sectors were present, more than 450 B2B meetings completed with the Czech and Polish companies.
Succeeding over 100 general and sectoral trade delegations and buying missions in the first 5 months of the year together with Exporter Associations under it, TİM is continuing to bring together Turkish exporters with the potential buyers all over the world. Under the coordination of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye and with the organization of TİM, Turkish exporters came together with the Central European buyers within the Trade Delegations to the Czech Republic and Poland.
In the Trade Delegation headed by TİM Vice President Adil Pelister and organized in the capital city of Poland, Warsaw, Turkish company representatives from different sectors, primarily from Chemical Substances and Products, Automotive, Machinery and Accessories, Steel, Furniture and Home Textile, have attended. To the Opening Ceremony organized prior to the B2B meetings, Cengiz Kamil Fırat (Ambassador of Türkiye to The Czech Republic), Nevra Genç (Trade Attaché of Türkiye to Poland), Betül Buke Karaçin (Assisstant Trade Attachee of Türkiye to Poland) and over 200 Polish company representatives participated.
Adil Pelister, TİM Vice President: Türkiye's export to Poland has increased by 160% in the last decade
Indicating that Poland has become a country with an indelible impression on diplomatic and military grounds besides its economic achievements in the last years, Adil Pelister, TİM Vice President, who gave a speech in the Opening Ceremony, stated that “It's a country of 700 billion USD economy and it has a trade volume of 740 billion USD. Poland's position respecting Türkiye's sovereignty rights as a member of both NATO and EU is very valuable for us. Thus, as Turkish business society we put a high importance on deepening our relations with Poland.”.
Emphasizing that the governments of the two countries had scaled the relations between Türkiye and Poland up to the level of strategical cooperation in 2019 and opened the lane necessary for Turkish and Polish businessmen, Pelister went on saying:
“Our exports to Poland has increased by 160% and our imports from Poland has increased by 30% in the last decade. Thus, we have reached to the point of 10 billion USD trade volume target that was set by our heads of the states by 2022. In 2022, with an increase by 17% as opposed to the prior year, we've made an export of 5,5 billion in total to Poland. In this way Poland has become the 12th country among the top countries that we have exports to. The uptrend in our reciprocal trade is continuing also this year. In the first quarter of 2023, we've achieved an export level of 1,5 billion USD and an import level of 1,3 billion USD. Among the sectors that has the highest numbers for exports in that period; Automotive with 406 million USD, Metals with 175 million USD and Chemicals with 146 million USD stand at the top. We have an export capacity that is very well adjusted to the import structure of Poland. In this manner we are aware that there is an export potential to Poland especially in medicine and chemical products, agricultural and livestock products, iron-steel and other metals, textile and apparel and jewelry.
Stating that the two countries have important relationship with each other on the basis of services sector and foreign investment, Pelister added that “Turkish companies are undersigning projects to be proud of. In Poland, Turkish contracting companies has undertaken 59 projects amounting to 4,6 billion USD up until today. Türkiye has become one of the topmost touristic destinations for Polish people. In 2022, we welcomed about 1 million Polish brothers and sisters in Türkiye. We are certain that we can take this relationships carry forward.”
Following the Opening Ceremony, the event program continued with B2B meetings. 34 Turkish exporter companies within the Delegation conducted nearly 350 B2B meetings with more than 200 Polish companies. The event program enden with the Turkish companies' firm and institution visits within the context of the market research.
Ahmet Güleç, TİM Vice President: Our export structure is well adjusted to the import structure of The Czech Republic.
The location for another Trade Delegation has been The Czech Republic. Conducted in the capital city of The Czech Republic, Prague, about 20 exporter Turkish companies from Furniture, Chemical Products, Electric-Electronics, Apparel, Textile, Iron and Services sectors participated to the Delegation, which was headed by Ahmet Güleç, TİM Vice President.
Ahmet Güleç, TİM Vice President, in his speech in the Opening Ceremony, indicated that while The Czech Republic has become prominent as the rising star of Europe by its strong produciton and supply network, the country has maintained the social market economy model with export focus successfully and has taken the 21st place in the positive category of the 2022 World Index of Economic Freedom.
Stating that direct investment is the driving force of the Czech economy and there is an important potential for increasing cross investments, Güleç said that “The Czech economy is expected to reach to 2,1% yearly real growth rate until 2017. The country's export passed over 240 billion USD and its import exceeded 233 billion USD last year. The result of those numbers were a record foreign trade volume. We observe that The Czech Republic has a similar profile with Türkiye on this subject. For this reason, as Turkish businessmen we put a great importance to deepen our relations with The Czech Republic. ”
Pointing out that increasing trade volume is providing a significant potential in order to enhance the bilateral trade between the two countries, Güleç continued his speech by stating that:
We see a positive scene when we go over the bilateral trade numbers. We managed 1,9 billion USD of export to The Czech Republic in 2022. Our imports came close to 2,9 billion USD. 3.641 Turkish companies in total managed to export to The Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has become our 30th biggest export destination in result. The top 5 sectors that made exports to The Czech Republic has been Automotive, Metals, Chemical Products, Apparel and Electronics. In this context, there is a significant export potential especially for sectors like medicine and chemicals, agricultural and livestock products, machinery, electronics, textile and apparel. Our primary target is to build our bilateral trade on win-win principle.
Following the Opening Ceremony, the event program continued with B2B meetings. 18 Turkish exporter companies within the Delegation conducted nearly 100 B2B meetings with Czech companies. The event program enden with the Turkish companies' firm and institution visits within the context of the market research.