Upon their visit to Turkey in order to contribute the increase in the trade and strategic cooperation between Turkey and the U.S.,
TABA/AmCham held a "Welcome Dinner"  on April 5, 2011 at Buyuk Kulup in honor of Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation President Lance Pressl, State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Affairs (DCEO) Vice President Mary Roberts, State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Affairs (DCEO) International Trade Specialist Iwona Bochenska, Natural Enrichment Industries Company Vice President Bill Kuzma and Consulate General of Turkish Republic in Chicago Commercial Attaché Sevtap Akguloglu.

- With the invitation of  TABA/AmCham Çukurova Branch President Gökhan Gökten, TABA/AmCham 10th Board Meeting was held in Seyhan Otel.  They had met in dinner after the meeting.



- With the invitation of   owners of the Yolbulan and Baştuğ  Metallurgical Industry  company Mustafa Baştuğ ( TABA/AmCham Çukurova Branch Vice President) and Kemal Yolbulan (TABA/AmCham Çukurova Branch Member) , TABA/AmCham Head Office Board Members and Çukurova Branch Board Members  visited  Yolbulan and Baştuğ  Metallurgical Industry  company. 

 - TABA/AmCham Head Office Board Members and Çukurova Branch Board Members    had luch in İskenderun Yelken Klubü on 9th March 2011.

- With the participation of  Turkish Prime Minister Mr.Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and TABA/ AmCham Head Office Board Members and Çukurova Branches Board Members  participated to the opening ceremony of  the largest investment in flat iron – steel product facility constituted from scratch by Turkey’s private sector which was established jointly by TABA/ AmCham  Çukurova Branch Prior  President Recep Atakaş  MMK and Atakaş Company Groups.
 

With the invitation of Chairman of INDEKS A.S Can Bayoğlu, Chairman of  TABA/ AmCham Uğur Terzioğlu, TABA/ AmCham Izmır Branch Board Members visited INDEX factory. We would like to thank Can Bayoğlu for the hospitality he has shown to TABA / AmCham  team .
 

A dinner held in İzmir in honor of Chairman of İzmir Chamber of Commerce Ekrem Demirtaş, TABA / AmCham Overall Chairman Uğur Terzioğlu and board members, Commercial Counselor U.S Embassy Michael Lally and Director of Private Investment Corporation and Business Development Peter Ballinger (OPIC).

To present the activities of Turkish – American Business Associations- American Chamber of Commerce Turkish Branch ( TABA/ AmCham), Chairman of TABA/ AmCham Uğur Terzioğlu, TABA/ AmCham Izmır Branch Board Members visited Vakıfbank Regional Director Hayati Yaman in his office on 17th February 2011.

To present the activities of Turkish – American Business Associations- American Chamber of Commerce Turkish Branch ( TABA/ AmCham), Chairman of TABA/ AmCham Uğur Terzioğlu, TABA/ AmCham Izmır Branch Board Members visited Halkbank Regional Coordinator  H. Vehbi Yıldırım in his office on 17th February 2011.

Can Bayoğlu, Chairman of INDEKS A.S and  TABA/ AmCham İzmir Branch Member, hosted a dinner on 16th February 2011 on the occasion of TABA/AmCham Head Office’s visit to İzmir.

Izmir branch was established in 1992, plays an active role in the development of Turkish-American social and commercial relations. The Board Chairman is Nuri Erçetin (Erçetin Gülyağı Sanayi Ticaret A.Ş) and under his chairmanship.

The Board is composed from Arzu Amirak (Philip Morris Sabanci A.Ş.), Emre Atalay (Agriata Tarım Ürünleri A.Ş. ), Hakan Hekimgil Site İnşaat Tur. San. ve Tic. A.Ş), Yavuz Sarvan (Ünsped Paket Servisi ve Ticaret A.Ş. - UPS ).

TABA/AmCham holds  leading individuals and organizations of Izmir in its body. TABA/AmCham has undertaken major tasks both for the promotion of Izmir and the country with its studies.

As being both Turkish-American Businessmen's Association (TABA/AmCham) and the American Chamber of Commerce Turkey Office we are working to increase trade relations between the two countries, and making Izmir a center of attraction for American investors and businessmen.

We support Izmir businessmen and investors to step in the American market by the seminars, trainings and events which we organize as often.
 

Turkish - American Business Association (TABA / AmCham) held a dinner with a meeting on  January 26, 2011 to the honor of  ATC President, Retired Ambassador James H. Holmes.



TABA / AmCham Chairman Uğur Terzioğlu, TABA / AmCham, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Ekim Alptekin, TABA / AmCham Board of Directors Members Tayfun Çataltepe, Kerim Bertrand, as well as Chairman of the Board of Eurobank Tekfen Mehmet N. Erten, the American - Turkish Council Executive Director Canan Büyükünsal, J.H Jones & Associate, LLC, President and CEO Jerry H. Jones, The U.S. Department of Defense, Deputy Director Hope A. Jones attended the dinner.



Retired Ambassador James H. Holmes presented to our Chairman Ugur Terzioglu a charter regarding the cooperation of TABA / AmCham  with ATC.

TABA / AmCham Chairman of Ugur Terzioğlu participated as a speaker in the Conference which was held in Vienna between the dates 18 to 19 January 2011. The Euromoney Conference was entitled ‘’Central and Eastern Europe’’. The financial trends and balances in the region and the growth model and the EU membership of Turkey were discussed in detail.

Many speaker's from the international platform were participated in the sessions. Exchange rate regime, open monetary policy, management of capital inflows and the point the Central and Eastern European countries have reached while recovering from  a crisis point, and how much they need  "Euro" are the topics that were considered in the Conference.

TABA / AmCham Chairman Ugur Terzioğlu also participated as a speaker in the session "Turkey: A Model for the Region?". Turkey's growth model and its sustainability and the possibility that Turkey might be a role model for other countries of the region were discussed. Turkey's EU membership, as well as the integration of the Turkish economy in the European economy were the matters that were brought to table.

TABA / AmCham Overall Chairman Uğur Terzioğlu received a plaque in honor of completing 20 years in Association of Retired Police on 24.12.2010.

On March 2, 2011, the active organization of the diplomats in Germany Diplomaten DMW International Chairman Mr. Guenther Meinel, Diplomaten DMW International Vice President Mr. Paul Reinhard, Diplomaten DMW International Director of Communications in Turkey Mr. Ferhat  Bozcelik and TABA / AmCham Overall Chairman Mr. Ugur Terzioglu visited Governor of Istanbul Mr. Huseyin Avni Mutlu.

On February 14, 2011 TABA / AmCham Overall Chairman Mr. Ugur Terzioglu, TABA / AmCham Secretary General Ms. Burcu Akdarı visited General Manager of Renault Mais Mr. İbrahim Aybar. They listened to the comments of Renault Mais General Manager Ibrahim Aybar about the production of electric cars.
 

On February 1, 2011 by the Economic Development Agency of the U.S. State of Georgia, with the contributions of TABA / AmCham, DEIK and MUSIAD, and with participation of a trade delegation consisting of eight companies representatives, A Business Forum and Bilateral Meetings were held . The entitled topic was "Investment Opportunities in Turkey and the United States ".

The recently created mechanisms and increasing bilateral contacts at all levels for further development of trade and economic relations between Turkey and the United States and in order to contribute the two countries' trade flows in the coming period, a large information meeting was held in cooperation of TABA / AmCham, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) and the Turkey Exporters Union (TIM) between 24 to 25 January 2011.

TABA/ AmCham President, Mr. Ugur Terzioglu, TABA / AmCham Vice President Mr. Ekim  Alptekin and TABA / AmCham Board Member, Mr. Kerim Alain Bertrand participated as panelists in  Turkey Procurement Finance and Private Equity Forum on February 15-16, 2011 which was organized by Euromoney Seminars and also TABA / AmCham was featuring as the "Supporting Organization" .

TABA / AmCham President Mr. Ugur Terzioglu, Global Capital Management Partner (GIH) Ihsan Sancay, Private Equity Director Burak Dalgın participated as  speakers in "Turkey as an investment point: Why should limited partners and global players should enter into the domestic market?’’ The panel’s moderator was 3Seas Capital Partners Managing Partner Mehmet Akseki.

In the forum private equity firms, institutional banks, mezzanine loan providers, government officials and professional consultants came together and examined the emerging opportunities in the region, reviewed the important developments in the last year and reported their views on the main industrial issues of interest in the coming years.

TABA / AmCham Energy, Infrastructure, Telecom, Information Committee meeting was held on 24th February 2011
 under the chairmanship of committee Mehmet Ozer . TABA / AmCham Energy, Infrastructure, Telecom, Information Committee who is dealing with the the Renewable Energy Law ,began to work for informing the domestic and foreign investors.
 


Committee members participated in the meeting are as follows.
 


Mehmet Özer ; Tunçmatik Elektrik  Mlz. San. Ve Tic. A.Ş., Burcu Akdarı; Karoto Otomotiv Tic. San. A.Ş., Mehmet Sever, Ars Enerji & Altınsaray Kuyumculuk, Mücevherat, Asuman Güven , Honeywell Otomosyon ve Kontrol Sist. San.ve Tic. A.Ş., M. Fatih Fırat  Birsistem Kurumsal Hizmetleri San. ve Tic. A.ş.

On December 29th, Mr. Uğur Terzioğlu visited Mr. Murat Yalçıntaş, Chairman of  İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) to discuss about  the possible collaborations between TABA/AmCham and İTO.



TABA/AmCham Vice President Atilla D. Yerlikaya, TABA/AmCham Board Member Kerim Alain Bertrand, TABA/AmCham Executive Manager Asude Yade Akdeniz also participated in this visit.

On November 4th, 2010, in Istanbul; “18th Business Roundtable with the Government of Turkey” was held, where participated Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, Mehmet Şimşek, Finance Minister of Turkey and Uğur Terzioğlu, TABA/AmCham Chairman.

Under the theme of “Turkey in Transformation” top policymakers, local and international business leaders and influential thinkers discussed Turkey’s future possibilities and the way to handle difficult subjects which might formulate the country’s progression.

In his speech Terzioğlu said that "It’s important to come to Turkey to produce here and sell goods for Europe by the customs advantages. Turkey also knows the countries such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan. Turkish companies know how to do business in this region and also we have good relations with its neighbors. Some criticizes that Turkey turned the direction to the East. But Turkey is doing important businesses nor only with the East but also with the West.

TABA / AmCham Chairman Ugur Terzioğlu took place as a speaker in the 26th Transatlantic Conference  which was held on November 8 to 11 and organized by the collaboration of a private organization of thought US-based Franklin Centre and  Turkey Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB).  The panel’s theme in which Mr. Uğur Terzioğlu mae a speech was  "Foreign Investment and Foreign Trade".

Uğur Terzioğlu  started his speech by talking about the importance of foreign capital investment and foreign trade, and he said that Turkey has to move wisely, and turn this process to its favour. Terzioğlu suggested to benefit from foreign capital investments up to maximum and added that "regardless of the economic systems there is a visible race between the countries of the world in order to be able to benefit from foreign capital investments.   Even the developed countries who doesn’t  have the shortage of capital for development compete with each other and demonstrate a special effort to attract foreign capital. China which used to avoid even taking credits once upon a time is now launching  joint investments and initiatives with western countries now. Even Soviet Russia opened its doors to  foreign-owned corporations such as Pepsi-Cola, Fiat, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz. It is unthinkable that we as Turkey stay out of these developments" he said.

While Terzioğlu was talking about the matters and benefits that  foreign capital needs, he opined that "country's economic and political stability plays a crucial role. Although the main goal is the f profitability and profit transfers, the foreign capital goes to a country if there is economic and political stability. Turkey has become one of the attractive countries for foreign capital  investments with the stability attained in recent years. Foreign capital investment bring the transfer of management knowledge and technology as well as capital and by this means they are more than the movement of capital. In a country as Turkey which has a very young population and unemployment problem,  foreign capital investments plays an important role in solving unemployment problem also ".

Turkish – American Business Association (TABA / AmCham) management with the presidency of Uğur Terzioğlu have paid a visit to the Governor of Istanbul, Avni Mutlu.  TABA / AmCham committee including the Vice President Atilla Yerlikaya and the Secretary General Burcu Akdarı have made a briefing with regard to the trade affairs between Turkey and the USA. TABA / AmCham President has made the following statement:

‘’ The USA’s economy capital is the New York State and Turkey’s is Istanbul. It is for certain that all other cities have been making considerable value-added contributions to the economy but the role and the power of Istanbul may not be discredited by any means. We have paid a visit to the Governor of Istanbul, Hüseyin Avni Mutlu who is the chief officer of a city in which the heart of economy is beating. The governor Mutlu has stated that he has been following up the activities of TABA / AmCham with appreciation and that he has been ready and willing to take any possible action with regard to building up the trade power of Istanbul city making the most remarkable contributions to the country’s economy. This visit has turned out to be a quite efficient visit for us.’’