Rifat HISARCIKLIOGLU
President, Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)
Turkey

Dear President Gorbachev, Ministers, valued representatives of the International Road Transport Union and road transport sector, respectable guests and press members.

I would like to express my pleasure in being with you here at the 31st IRU World Congress which we are hosting in collaboration with TOBB, the International Road Transport Union and TOFED, and I salute and welcome you to our Congress.

I hope that our Congress will evaluate the contributions of international highway transportation to world peace and the well-being of societies, and that the perspective on the revival of the historical Silk Road will be successful.

Dear participants, in your presence, I would like to thank President Gorbachev, who is with us today, for his contributions to bringing peace to the world and improving world trade, which is bound by the former.

With the impact of the fast developments in logistics and informatics, world trade is constantly growing and developing economies are significantly increasing their share in world production. These developments have begun to change the parameters of production and competition in the global economy. Now, production is spread over several different centres and production processes are more dynamic. On the other hand, the “produce and sell” approach is not sufficient any more. Transporting products to market countries in a minimum time and with minimum cost has become an important element of competition. Since world trade volume has increased and developing economies have come into play, the current transportation corridors and the capacity of transportation infrastructures are no longer enough to satisfy these needs.

As a result of production processes having a multi-centered and dynamic structure, it has been inevitable for the international transportation sector to start its restructuring process with a vision that takes the logistics phenomenon into consideration.

Dear guests, as a consequence of the shift of world production towards the Asian centre, the perspective of the revival of the historical Silk Road has came to the forefront of the world. All these emerging developments, led by the Silk Road perspective, will offer new opportunities to the international highway transportation sector and all the countries along this route, but if we want to realise these opportunities, all countries, even if they are not on that route, should engage in close collaboration. In taking the first concrete steps towards establishing this collaboration, I believe that the Ministerial Conference that will be held with under leadership of our Transportation Minister Mr Binali YILDIRIM is a great opportunity. Turkey, with its geographical location and developed transportation sector, is ready to do its share in order to realise the Silk Road perspective.

TOBB, of which I am the Chairman, is realising the modernisation projects of the border gates of Turkey. I believe that the border gate modernisation projects that our union has undertaken in order to minimise the time loss in crossing borders is a successful example of the collaboration between governments and the private sector of making international transportation and trade easier. In your presence, I would like to thank our Secretary of State, Mr Kürşad TÜZMEN, in the name of the Turkish private sector, for supporting these developments.

Dear participants, as the real representative of the Turkish business world, TOBB is the guarantor of the TIR system in Turkey. Our union holds the first place among all the guarantor institutions in the world in TIR licence number rankings which are obtained from the IRU. We give great importance to the TIR system, which is successfully operated by 180 global representatives of the IRU within the framework of the TIR Agreement from over 70 countries, because of its function in transporting Turkey’s foreign trade.

We are now expecting and hoping that the TIR system, which has a significant role in making international highway transportation easier, faster and with more suitable costs, will expand by covering countries like mainly China and India, and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. I want to emphasise that this expansion will provide great support in realising the Silk Road perspective which has been revived and finally make global trade easier.

Hereby, I would like to thank the respectable chairman of the IRU, Mr LACNY, and Secretary General, Mr MARMY, for leading the successful work which the IRU has achieved in expanding TIR system and improving international transportation. Respected President, at the end of my words, I hope that this Congress will contribute to world peace and the well-being of humanity with the development of collaboration between countries in the highway transportation sector. I would like once more to welcome you, our valued congress delegates who have come from all over the world to our country and to Istanbul, which is the 2010 European cultural capital. You are our guests, so all my friends and I will be doing our best to make this Congress a success and to be your hosts in a way that fits the infamous Turkish hospitality.

In the hope that you will establish new friendships and new collaborations here in Istanbul, where continents and cultures meet, I salute all of you with respect.

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