Contribution of the Chambers to the EU-Turkey Positive Agenda EU-Turkey Chamber Forum Partnership Projects Kick-off Meeting Tuesday, January 15 th 2012 Ankara Draft speech by Mr. Arnaldo Abruzzini Secretary General, EUROCHAMBRES Distinguished speakers, dear participants It is a pleasure for me to be here today and speak as Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, representing a network of 2000 Chambers and over 20 million enterprises in Europe. First and foremost, I wish to thank TOBB and its President, Mr Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu for co-organising this event with us. I am happy to say that the Union of Chambers and commodity exchanges in Turkey has been an active member of EUROCHAMBRES for many years, as a witness of the long standing relations between the EU and Turkey. This relationship has been considerably strengthened since the election of Mr Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu three years ago as Deputy President of EUROCHAMBRES. I am proud to note that once again that this strong involvement shows that the business community is well ahead of our politics regarding European integration. 1
I also wish to address the EU Delegation in Turkey, represented by Mr Bela Szombati, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation. Without the financial support of the European Union, we would not be here today. More than that, the EU Delegation in Ankara has shown an active interest in our activities in Turkey since the implementation of the Turkish Chamber Development Programme (TCDP) more than ten years ago. Throughout these years, we have developed a fruitful dialogue with the EU Delegation services to make the most of our projects in Turkey. We thank you for that. Minister, it s a great honour for us to have you with us today. The EU and Turkey enjoy a deep trade relationship. The EU ranks as n 1 in both Turkey s imports and exports while Turkey is the EU s 6 th largest trade partner. The success of the Customs Union between the EU and Turkey is undeniable. Your presence, here, today, stresses the importance of the EU-Turkey relations in these economic difficult times. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to congratulate all of you! You are coming from all over Turkey and all over the EU and you are here because your Chamber has been selected to implement a partnership in the context of the ETCF II programme. You have gone through a long, rigorous and selective process, so selective that the Chamber of EUROCHAMBRES President, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Torino, has not been selected. In total, 21 partnerships have been selected, involving 70 Chambers from Turkey and the EU; this is a great success, demonstrating the mutual interest between the EU and Turkish business communities. Each of these Chamber partnerships will help you to design and generate new value-added services to your members, to develop a long lasting link, but more than anything to increase mutual understanding and to better know your counterparts. At your level, you will contribute to greater understanding and affinity between the EU and Turkey. You are bringing the EU and Turkey closer. 2
EUROCHAMBRES and TOBB have a strong experience in supporting the implementation of such partnerships. In total, since 2001, we have successfully assisted in the implementation of 43 other partnerships in the context of the three previous projects. We are very happy to see that 57 Chambers out of 70 are participating for the first time in such a partnership. It s worth noting that in Turkey, these new Chambers are either small Chambers or Chambers from less developed regions. This is very important for us. These new partnerships have also attracted more and new European Chambers. In 2009, 21 Chambers from the EU were involved in a partnership with their counterparts in Turkey in the context of the first phase of ETCF, this time 31 Chambers from 10 European countries will implement a partnership with at least one Turkish Chamber. This represents an increase of almost 50%. This is quite remarkable if you look at the context in which this second phase of the ETCF project is being implemented. If we look at the headlines in the press or if we listen to our politicians, we are far away from the enthusiasm of 2007 when the first phase of the ETCF project was launched. Since our last project, the EU and Turkey went through a delicate phase in their relations. Accession process stalled. 2013 will mark the 50 th anniversary of the signing of the Association Agreement between Turkey and the EU. I am positive by nature and I expect as Stefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement said few weeks ago, that 2013 will be a promising year for EU-Turkey relations. Some optimism has already been brought with the launch of the positive agenda last May on an initiative of the European Commission. 3
The accession negotiations are in the hands of our political leaders both in the EU and in Turkey. Our role as business leaders is to make sure that whenever accession can take place, the business community will be ready for it. As representatives of the Turkish and European business community and of different parts of Turkey and the EU, you have a unique role to play in the accession process and in the positive agenda. You understand the needs of demands of the companies. You can ensure that reforms bring concrete improvement to the daily business of millions of companies. The positive agenda to be successful has to be an inclusive process. The involvement of the civil society and of the business community in particular is crucial. It will allow maintaining momentum for further ambitious reforms. We all agree that even if the Customs Union between the EU and Turkey is clearly a success, it should be modernized, its functioning improved and its scope expanded. It s crucial that you are involved in this process. The aim of the positive agenda is to work together on issues that bring Turkey and the EU closer to their common goal. It s what we are doing today and what you will do tomorrow in implementing your partnerships. EUROCHAMBRES has always promoted the role of Chambers as prime movers in the integration process. We, at EUROCHAMBRES, would like to stress our commitment to engage in this path of change and progress. Supporting our members, and therefore the Chambers in Turkey, is an essential task for EUROCHAMBRES. We hope that your partnerships and the other activities of the second phase of the ETCF project will enhance the dialogue within the civil society in Turkey and in the EU and contribute to bring a new dynamic to EU-Turkey relations. 4
We also consider as our role to communicate more on the economic benefits of the enlargement. The massive mutual economic interest and benefits often go unreported and unacknowledged as media coverage focuses on the political challenges facing the accession process. Proof of these economic benefits is the strong support of the Turkish business community to Turkey s accession to the EU as well as the strong interest of the European business community in Turkey. It s worth noting that the business world has been unimpressed so far by the often adverse political conditions in the EU-Turkey relationship. Europe s business people know the way to Turkey, and vice versa. The EU-Turkey relationship is based on a strong and deep economic integration. As Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for trade stressed it rightly one year ago: You are the people that make the EU- Turkey relationship work. Let me just mention two examples drawn from the implementation of the second phase of the EU-Turkey Chambers Forum which illustrate this strong support and interest. We have recently carried out a survey among 3000 Turkish companies on their level of awareness and readiness to apply EU legislation as well as on their opinion about Turkey s accession to the EU. We will publish next month the results of this survey. But I can already share with you one of the main findings of this survey: four years after the first edition of the survey carried out in the context of the first phase of ETCF in 2008, more than three quarters of the responding companies still support the enlargement process. Not only are Turkish enterprises strong supporters of accession, but almost half (45%) of the participating companies consider that it will happen in maximum 10 years (against 1/3 in 2008). 5
We have not carried out such a survey in the EU yet, however, we organized last year, 3 study visits respectively in Belgium, Austria and France for a total of 45 Turkish Chamber executives. These visits were very fruitful and were an opportunity to develop strong links between European and Turkish business communities. It is worth stressing that these delegations of Turkish business representatives attracted considerable interest among the European business community and European local authorities including in two countries traditionally reluctant to Turkey s EU accession, Austria and France. It shows that more than ever, the relations with Turkey are important for the EU business community and vice versa. On this positive note, I would like, on behalf of EUROCHAMBRES, to wish all of you a successful and fruitful conference as well as a successful implementation of your partnerships. Thank you for your attention 6