After a busy month....

We have left behind a very busy month of activity. We had two important meetings in March, especially with our Professional Committees (MESKOM) members.

One of these was the meeting we held with our Ministry of Internal Affairs with the title "Peace of Istanbul", believing in that security and peace in a city are extremely vital for the economic dynamism of that city, that a safe environment will increase the quality of life of individuals and encourage economic activities. Our Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Ali Yerlikaya made an important presentation and evaluations in terms of the peace and security of the city. You can read the details of this meeting on the following pages.

The other important meeting we held again with the intense participation of our MESKOM members was the consultation meeting with our Ministry of Justice. It was attended by Deputy Minister of Justice Mr. Niyazi Acar and other Ministry of Justice officials, and 22 presentations were made by MESKOM representatives on behalf of our 55 committees, conveying important issues on the agenda of our industry to our Ministry of Justice.

Again, last month, we hosted important delegations at our Odakule center, which you can read about in the following pages. But I would like to particularly share with you two of these visits. If you remember, we visited the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with our Assembly Members last summer and had contacts with many institutions and organizations. One of them was the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce (KTTO), chaired by Mr. Turgay Deniz. We hosted KTTO Board Members at our chamber last month and discussed once again how we can develop mutual economic relations.

We have recently brought a very important issue of our industry to the public agenda. The meeting we organized about lack of insurance in the industry with the participation of our Vice President, Mr. Cevdet Yılmaz received a wide public response. After that meeting, the Board of Directors of the Turkish Insurance Association (TSB) paid a visit to our chamber. We discussed the issue with the delegation led by TSB Chairman Uğur Gülen and exchanged very useful ideas about what can be done in the coming period. I would like to express once again that we will follow the developments in the field of insurance, which is a vital issue for our industry, in every aspect and that we will be in constant consultation with our stakeholders about the solution.

Our country is a large and developing country. These processes are often painful and it is necessary to manage many issues from education to health, from economy to demography in a very coordinated and harmonious manner. And one of the emerging and alarming issues lately is demography and population movements. According to the population data recently announced by TÜIK, Türkiye's aging population and the frightening decline in birth rates show that we are in a critical period in matters such as economy, workforce, employment and the social structure of cities.

We addressed this crucial issue in our March assembly with Professor of Economics at Istanbul University. Dr. Murat Şeker, Hacettepe University Population Studies Institute Director Prof. Dr. İsmet Koç, M GEN Technology Consultancy President Mr. Ufuk Tarhan, Istanbul University Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Levent Şahin and Senior Partner of Egon Zehnder Mr. Murat Yeşildere.

We are coming to the end of the peaceful and fruitful days of Ramadan. We will celebrate Ramadan Holiday in the second week of April. I wish you all a healthy and happy Holiday in advance.

Erdal Bahçıvan
Istanbul Chamber of Industry 
Chairman of the Board of Directors