Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, met with representatives of business world and spoke about EU-Turkey relations at the meeting hosted by KCI

Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, members of the Kocaeli Chamber of Industry (KCI) Executive Board, members of the council, chairmans of organized industry zones and representatives of business world came together at the meeting hosted by KCI. Opening speech of the meeting was made by the KCI Chairman of the Executive Board Ayhan Zeytinoğlu. Chairman Zeytinoğlu started his speech by describing the geographic and economic properties of Kocaeli and continued with mentioning the trade relations with EU.

After Zeytinoğlu’s speech Ambassador Landrut took the stand and said that it is pleasing to see the EU Information Center operating actively. Landrut said “Turkey is a very important import market for EU and a significant part of the European chain of values. We care about the economic relations with Turkey. The Covid-19 pandemic and the unjust attack of Russia to Ukraine also showed us how important the circular economy and the efficient use of resources are. In this sense the Green Deal will be the lead of the economic-social change and effect everyone.”.

A FINANCIAL AID FOR TURKEY

Ambassador Landrut said “On the matter of change public and private sectors will need co cooperate, No matter how distant 2050 looks it can still be considered ‘tomorrow’. We should cooperate now and actualize the measures in 2-3 years. If Turkey develops its own Emission Trade System (ETS) during this process Turkey will face less problems with the customs union. No matter how difficult the change processes look we shouldn’t forget that they also contain oppurtunities. You have an oppurtunity to generate a market with green investments. Also we know that your companies need financial resources. On this point EU allocated 700 million Euros to support Turkey in the process of change. You can benefit from these resources by developing projects.”.

Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut visited Our Village Production Center For Disabled, made observations and received information about the production in the center

Our Village Production Center for Disabled, a social responsibility project of Kocaeli Chamber of Industry (KCI), hosted an important guest. KCI Chairman of the Executive Board Ayhan Zeytinoğlu together with Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut who came to our province to make several contacts and their retinue visited Our Village. Chairman Zeytinoğlu showed the guests around the production units and informed them about the production process of the center. General Manager of Our Village Hüsnü Bayraktar, Begüm Okçu, who is an official of the Metraco company which produces textile for brands renowned worldwide from the center and KCI Deputy Secretary General Egemen Mert accompanied Chairman Zeytinoğlu and Ambassador Landrut on their visit.

REMARKED AS IMPRESSIVE

Impressed by the size and the working areas of the Our Village Production Center of Disabled, which is comprised of 136 disabled and 370 non-disabled a total of over 500 employees, Ambassador Landrut commented “Transformation of an activity which started as a small EU Project to an operation this size is very impressive”. Ambassador Landrut also added that it’s pleasing to see employment of both disabled and non-disabled people together and 60% of workforce being comprised of women. After closely examining the textile products manufactured at Our Village and touring the mushroom production unit Ambassador Landrut expressed his pleasure and congratulated all partners notably KCI for developing this Project.