Dear Ministers, IRU’s valued representatives, Dear delegates and valued press members,

I first want to express my pleasure at being with you at the closing meeting of the 31st IRU World Congress and I salute you with respect in my name and in the name of TOBB’s board of directors.

wish to thank you for your participation and contributions to this Congress, which strongly brought up the contribution of international highway transportation to world peace and the well-being of humanity, and also the need for the revival of the historical Silk Road.

Dear Ministers, as Chairman of Turkish private sector, I want to thank you all for the work you have done in the Ministerial Conference which was realised parallel to our congress.

I am very happy that I had the chance to be with you and share my basic ideas at the opening of the summit. When you go back to your countries, we are expecting you to be the leaders in taking the necessary steps to bring the historical Silk Road revival vision to life, as was agreed in the Ministerial Conference Declaration. On the other hand, I want to also warmly congratulate the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, Istanbul Chamber of Industry, Istanbul Commodity Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, who sponsored yesterday’s lunch within the scope of the congress and provided us a very elegant and welcoming environment, and also congratulate Osman Logistics, which is one of the most respected companies in our country and which was kind enough to be our Platinum sponsor.

Dear friends,

In this Congress, international highway transportation, the latest advancements in the global economy and the reflections of the advancements to the sector have been discussed. As can be understood from the issues discussed, the paradigms of production and transporting products, and the traditional transportation perspectives have now changed. This change offers new expansion opportunities to the international transportation sector. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, it is now time for the transportation sector to restructure and transform itself into a real logistics sector.
The historical Silk Road perspective that was particularly discussed in the Ministerial Conference within the scope of our Congress is very important. This perspective does not offer important opportunities to only one or two countries, but it offers opportunities to all the countries that are placed on the route from Asia to Europe. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, it is very important that all these countries are ready for new collaborations. As a matter of fact, Turkey, with its geographical location and developed transportation sector, is ready to take important responsibilities and to establish collaborations in the Silk Road perspective.

Dear participants, I want to congratulate you, as the Chairman of my Union, which is the highest level representative of the Turkish private sector with its 1,300,000 members in Turkey, and as the host of this Congress, because by participating in and contributing to this Congress, you have rendered a huge service to humanity, your countries and your sector.

You will be going back to your countries within a couple of days. When you return home, please convey my deepest affection and respect to your families and to the members of the sector in your countries. We are expecting you to come back with your families to beautiful Istanbul in which not only two continents but also history, nature and cultures meet.

We also hope that you will remember the friendships you have established and the good memories you formed here.

I hereby also want to thank the IRU’s valued President, my friend Mr Lacny, and the IRU’s very valued Secretary General, Mr Marmy, for their great contributions to the success of this congress.

Dear Ministers, dear delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

To end my words here, I hope that the 31st IRU World Congress and its results are going to contribute to the sector, to the growth of global trade, to the stability of world peace and to the increase of well-being of societies, and I hope that you were pleased with the warm attention and hospitality of the people of our country during your stay in our country. I salute all of you with respect.

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