From the President's Pen

Dear fellow industrialists;

Our Zone, which is one of the important parts of the Turkish economy, contributes positively to the current account deficit balance every year with the production carried out in the existing industrial parcels.

With 50 thousand employees, we will have brought nearly 200 new parcels to the Turkish industry with the realisation of the expansion area project in our Zone, which carries out production for 22 different sectors. Thus, according to OSBÜK data, our region, which is among the top 10 OIZs providing the highest employment in Turkey, will increase its positive support to the current account deficit while entering the top 4.

I am pleased to share with you that we have received positive feedback from the meetings we have held on this issue. With the establishment of large-scale companies for the production of high value-added, advanced technology products to be established on the area in question, we will increase our positive contribution to the current account deficit balance on the one hand, and raise awareness of R&D and innovation on the other.

This month, while we signed the groundbreaking ceremony of the EBSO service building, we hosted the assembly meeting of the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry. It will be an important gain for us to have the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry, the founder of our region, where the most industrial facilities in Izmir operate, within our borders. Again, depending on the logistical advantages of our region, our participants in our region, which is the largest OIZ in Izmir, and all our industrialist friends operating in Izmir will be able to reach the Aegean Region Chamber of Industry much more easily and quickly than the old location of the EBSO building.

We are continuing our work in the hope of realising the opening of the building together. In June, we launched another project, the Young Industrialists Club, and we are looking forward to the work and suggestions that our young industrialists will put forward with their visionary perspectives and innovative approaches. Under the chairmanship of Murat Özbek, one of the second generation representatives of Özdersan Leather Machinery company, we believe that this valuable organisation, which is a first in Turkey, will make valuable contributions to our region.

While receiving the dynamic ideas of our young industrialists on the one hand, benefiting from the valuable experiences of our veteran industrialists on the other hand was among the ‘sine qua non’ formations of our duty process. For this reason, our High Advisory Board, which we proposed to be chaired by Mr Mustafa Karabağlı, one of our Regional Participants, which we formed with the kindness of our very valuable doyen brothers who have made valuable contributions to the Turkish industry, held its first meeting in June. On behalf of myself and my Board of Directors, I would like to once again thank Mr Karabağlı, the Chairman of the Board, and our esteemed doyen industrialist elders who agreed to take part in the Board. Together with our friends who take part in the Board of Directors, Audit and OSBÜK, we are excited to carry out successful works together with our Participants with valuable ideas that will combine experience and dynamism.

Again this month, we continued to carry out our mission to ‘continue production’ in all areas of life with our social activities. Within the scope of our IAOSB Meetings event, we hosted Özgür Demirtaş and Sunay Akın in our Region and brought them together with our participants. While we gave a standing ovation to the Abracadavra play successfully staged by our award-winning IAOSB Theatre Group, we wished success to our team, which will open its curtains again in September.

Finally, I would like to emphasise the importance of vocational training. As our Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk emphasised, every factory is a fortress. This fortress also needs ‘equipped commanders’, that is, qualified personnel. Registrations to our school established for this purpose have started. We welcome our young people, who will add strength to the Turkish industry, to our school on their way to becoming the industrialists of the future.

Cenk KARACE
Chairman of the Board of Directors of İzmir Atatürk Organised Industrial Zone