Members of the World Turkish Business Council (DTİK), operating under the umbrella of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), met at a reception hosted by the Turkish Embassy in Belgrade.
Gathering in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, members visited some institutions during the day and attended the reception hosted by Ambassador Hami Aksoy.
Turkey’s Belgrade Ambassador Aksoy, in his speech at the program, said that they wanted Turkish business people in Serbia to become members of DTİK.
Aksoy, who stated that Turkish business people are doing good work in terms of entrepreneurship, expressed his surprise when he saw companies from Kahramanmaraş and Gaziantep after the February 6 earthquakes at a fair held in Belgrade, and said, “I asked them, ‘You experienced a big earthquake, how did you recover and come here so quickly?’ They told me, ‘Some of our factories were destroyed, we lost our workers, but we can relieve the pain of the earthquake by working.’ I understood once again how resilient the Turkish workforce is.”
Ambassador Aksoy stated that the relations between Serbia and Türkiye are at a high level and that there is a close relationship between the presidents of the two countries, which opens all doors for them.
Stating that Turkish investments in Serbia have increased from 1 million dollars to 400 million dollars in the last 10 years, Hami Aksoy said:
“We have nearly 1,500 companies operating here. Our foreign trade has exceeded the 2 billion dollar level in the last 2 years, we have nearly 27 factories and new businessmen visit me every day to make investments. Businessmen ask me my opinion on investments and I say, ‘Serbia is the country with the most opportunities in the Balkans.’ In the last two years, direct foreign investments in Serbia amounted to 4.4 and 4.5 billion euros respectively, which is 60 percent of the investments made in the entire Balkan region. Serbia will host Expo 2027.”
Ambassador Hami Aksoy also noted that Serbia is like a big construction site and Turkish companies should benefit from the opportunities in Serbia.
Halkbank aims to increase the number of branches in Belgrade to 15
Osman Arslan, General Manager of Halkbank and Chairman of DEİK Türkiye-Serbia Business Council, said that they used the opportunities to create investment opportunities from Turkey to Serbia.
Expressing that the Turkish nation has implemented a management approach based on rights and justice for centuries, Arslan made the following statements:
“We need to continue the tradition, today’s power is economy, diplomacy, technology. We are aware that we represent a very big power. We need to work towards big goals. We see Halkbank being in Serbia as a big advantage, we have reached 43 branches, 10 of which are in Belgrade, we aim to increase this to 15. The capital we started with 10 million euros has reached 200 million euros of equity and we continue on our way with a credit support exceeding 1 billion euros. You ask us for more financing, we are ready for that. We aim to reflect Turkey’s power here, Turkey is now becoming too small for Turkish business people and we have to improve this.”
“We aim to build a strong communication network by bringing together business people of Turkish origin and friends of Türkiye”
DTİK Balkans Representative Board President and DTİK Greece Country Representative Levent Sadık Ahmet stated that they met to increase communication between diaspora representatives and to come together on common projects.
Ahmet, who stated that the Balkans are one of the places that Turkey considers important for both historical and strategic reasons, said, “Turkey is making various diplomatic, economic and humanitarian initiatives to encourage stability and cooperation in the Balkans. As DTİK, our motto is ‘diaspora diplomacy.’ With these diplomatic activities, we aim to bring together business people of Turkish origin and friends of Turkey residing abroad, build a strong communication network and share it with an effective knowledge and present it to you.”
Ahmet said that DTİK, which aims to add value to Turkey’s national power not only economically but also strategically, will be the address for the union of its members from all around the world in fields such as bureaucracy, diplomacy, academia, international business and trade, culture-arts, and sports.
Aziz Arslan, General Manager of Halkbank Serbia and DTİK Serbia country representative, stated that Turkish associations and foundations abroad came together within their councils with a common consciousness.
Arslan stated that they wanted to strengthen their unity and that they were working to make the Turkish business world more visible in the international arena with the services they would provide.
