Speaking at the opening of the event, Mr. Jaynet Schener, the Vice President of the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Turkey), said that starting from the second half of 2016, the economic relations between Turkey and Russia received a positive impetus.
He named the development of aerospace, defense and machine-building industries strategic for the region. "I believe that thanks to the agreements reached today, we will soon be able to reach the level of trade turnover with Russia in the amount of $100 million per year, which is in line with our plans," emphasised Mr. Schener.
Mr. Suren Vardanyan, the Vice President of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, expressed the hope that the meeting of business representatives of the two countries will be effective and will contribute to strengthening the authority of the two countries in the international arena. He noted that Russia and Moscow consider Turkey as a strategic and economic partner. "We cooperate very closely with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Istanbul, have repeatedly organized business missions for Russian businessmen to Turkey and received Turkish businessmen on our site. I hope that we will have the same fruitful business relations with Bursa," Mr. Vardanyan said.
Mr. Arsen Ayupov, the Head of the Russian-Turkish working group at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), noted that the current trade turnover between Russia and Turkey is about $25 million. The planned figure of $100 million is quite achievable, in large part thanks to the conducted business meetings. "We believe that Bursa has a tremendous potential in mechanical engineering, aerospace and defense industries and hope to develop mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries and regions," said Mr. Ayupov.
The Turkish side had 35 representatives of large machine-building companies, which took part in the negotiations. More than 400 meetings with Russian entrepreneurs were held.