Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, Ambassador Christian Berger and his wife visited the Museum of Traditional Socks Anatolia and the Balkans. EU Delegation to Turkey Education and Training Sector Manager Prof. Dr. Mustafa Balcı was also accompanied to the Ambassador while visits taking place and Esenyurt Mayor Kemal Deniz Bozkurt, MHGF Vice President Mukadder Özden, MHGF Board Members Prof. Dr. Esin Sarıoğlu, Vice President of the Ready-to-Wear Export Development Association (HİGE-DER) Osman Sait Günteki, HİGE-DER Board Member Hüseyin Kaya, and Istanbul Journalists Association (İGD) President Mehmet Mert were also at the meeting.
MHGF Chairman Huseyin Ozturk commenced his speech with the satisfaction as a consequence of visits and talked about the representatives in general with their statistical figures amounting to 30 both sector based and regional based associations in the textile, garment, fashion, leather and its confectionery and around 9300 industrialists affiliated to the federation, Mr. Öztürk provided some information on the function of the association as serving as an umbrella organization especially in value added products in manufacturing, workforce, export and woman employment proportionally.
Öztürk: "We Must Increase Our Share in the EU Ready-To-Wear Market"
Noting that the Turkish ready-to-wear industry has built in a solid foundation that allows rapid delivery in the EU with its qualified human resources, machinery and with integration in its own organizational structure, and also benefits from its location advantage in the market in a right way, MHGF Chairman Öztürk said;’’ "With 11.3 billion Euros, we have a share of only 11.5 percent in the EU's 98.9 billion Euros of ready-to-wear imports. We need to increase Turkey's share in the EU market apparel.’’
“When we look at the assessment criteria such as human resources and social compliance as the Turkish ready-to-wear industry, it is obvious that we are far ahead of our competitors in the world. However, we see that the market shares of some Far Eastern countries that did not have these conditions in the EU in the past years have gradually increased. In this context, this phenomenon is resulting in a serious price pressure put forward on Turkey. "
Berger, "The EU is Turkey's Primary Trading Partner"
Ambassador Berger highlighted the importance of the Turkey's role in the EU Customs Union as an inseparable of and from it and also re-approach the subject via mentioning about the Turkish companies are inescapable for the supply trafficking in Europe. Noting that Turkey is the EU's fifth largest trading partner, Berger, ‘’ EU, Turkey's primary trading partner. There is a strong relationship in terms of both commerce and the industry. Along with the automotive industry, the textile and apparel industry is one of the two strongest sectors in these relationships. Unfortunately, there has been a decline in this trade in recent months due to the worldwide epidemic. But we also see opportunity.’’
One of them is that EU companies invest more in digital transformation; the other is investments for companies to be more environmentally friendly. Accordingly, a new mindset emerged. Via positioning the manufacturing base close to the Customs Union. The epidemic has shown us that the supply chain can be broken. Companies either cannot manufacture or deliver.’’ said Berger and continued his words as follows; “Another aspect of the topic is social and corporate responsibility, as we can see in this factory. First of all, SMEs are the backbone of all economies and they are the accentuation for employment. Creating such a working environment will encourage people to work in this sector and increase employment. Your cooperation with universities on vocational education is also a very important pillar of social and corporate responsibility. "
Berger congratulated on the sock museum idea
Berger compiled data on the socks shown at the museum and expressed his opinion on the archeology museums in Turkey with the following as a result of a number of visits to those places, ‘’ “I have not seen a socks museum until today. With this museum, you reflect the history of the socks. As we all know, there is no future without the realization of the past. Therefore, I personally congratulate you on the sock museum idea.’’
