IKV and DEIK Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan accompanied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his visit to Slovenia, Slovakia and Romania between 30 March and 1 April 2015.

Turkey will be one of the 3 Priority countries of Slovenia within its 2020 Goals.

Turkey-Slovenia Business Forum was held on the 30 March 2015 in Slovenia with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Slovenia Borut Pahor, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeykeci, Minister of Economic Development and Technology of Slovenia Zdravko Pocivalšek, Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Slovenia Chairman Samo Hribar Milic and IKV and DEIK Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan.

IKV and DEIK Board of Directors Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan explained that Slovenia is a transit country for Turkish export goods to European market. Referring to Slovenia’s strategic importance for Turkey, Vardan said that “As the Turkish business community, we are following closely Slovenia’s performance with its economic growth in the last ten years, its integration to the global market and to the Euro-Atlantic institutions. Taking into consideration that the bilateral trade volume has exceeded 1 billion dollars, we want to build stronger and diversified economic relations in all areas with Slovenia which became a model country of the Southern Europe”.

Chairman Vardan analyzed the potential cooperation and investment opportunities in Slovakia. 

Turkey-Slovakia Business Forum was held on the 31 March 2015 with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcák, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci and IKV and DEIK Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan.

Speaking at the Turkey-Slovakia Business Forum, Chairman Vardan stressed the importance of political, economic and trade relations between Turkey and Slovakia. In the Forum, Chairman Vardan said the following: “We would like to complement our close political ties with strong economic relations with Slovakia which is one of Europe’s fastest growing economies”. In his speech, Chairman Vardan further pointed out that bilateral investments will increase thanks to the entry into force of the renewed Agreement on Mutual Protection and Promotion of Investments between Slovakia and Turkey.  Moreover, Chairman Vardan explained that it is expected that Turkey and Slovakia will increase their cooperation through joint projects in areas such as construction services, energy production, transportation and trade, automotive and spare part production, defence equipment, electric products and telecommunications.

Chairman Vardan stressed the importance of increasing our trade volume with Romania by cooperating instead of competing.

Turkey-Romania Business Forum was held on the 1 April 2015 with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Romania Victor Ponta, Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci, Minister of Economy, Trade and Tourism of Romania Mihai Tudose, Chamber of Trade and Industry of Romania Chairman Mihai Daraban and IKV and DEIK Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan.

Pointing out to the important economic and political progress made in Romania, Chairman Vardan explained that economic relations between both countries have gained momentum and that Romania is Turkey’s biggest trade partner in the Balkans. In the meeting, Chairman Vardan further said: “Instead of competing, we want to build a stronger and diversified economic cooperation with Romania which has the potential to become the centre of South Eastern European economy. We also see that our Romanian counterparts are sharing with us the same ideals”.

During this visit, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between IKV and DEIK Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan and Chamber of Trade and Industry of Romania (CCIR) Chairman Mihai Daraban.