Local Schengen Cooperation Visa Information for Business World was held in Tekirdağ on 12 May 2016 under the cooperation of TOBB, Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Delegation of the European Union in Turkey.

The opening speech of the meeting was given by the President of Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry and TOBB Member of Board of Directors Cengiz Günay. The participants of the meeting consisted of Board and Assembly Members of Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Consul General of Belgian Consulate General in İstanbul Henri Vantieghem, Head of Visa Section of Belgian Consulate General in İstanbul Jean Nicolas Dewaide, Senior Expert of Integrated Border Management and Local Schengen Cooperation of Delegation of the European Union to Turkey Jörg Dieter Koestinger, Consul of Italian Consulate General in İstanbul Giulia Prati, Head of Visa Section of German Consulate General in İstanbul Alexander Dodt, Consul of Hungarian Consulate General in İstanbul Zsuzsanna Palmai, Head of Visa Section of Czech Republic Consulate General in İstanbul Nora Jurkovicova, IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, TOBB EU Department Expert Senem Yavaş, IKV Junior Researcher Ahmet Ceran, Members of Tekirdağ Women Entrepreneurs City Council, Secretary-General of Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry İrfan Ekici, members of chambers and commodity exchanges from neighbouring regions as well as representatives of private sector.

During the meeting, President of Tekirdağ Chamber of Commerce and Industry Cengiz Günay mentioned that they welcome the call of European Commission for the removal of visa requirements towards Turkish citizens and urged the parties to undertake the responsibility with regard to the process. Underlining the benefits of visa-free travel for the business world, Günay stressed the importance of further improvement of commercial relations with the EU countries to strengthen Turkey’s development path.

IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas made a presentation on the latest developments with regard to the visa liberalisation dialogue and Turkey-EU refugee deal. During her presentation, IKV Secretary-General Nas gave information about the 72 criteria that Turkey needs to fulfil for visa-free travel to Europe and assessed the Third Report on Progress by Turkey in fulfilling the requirements of its Visa Liberalisation Roadmap which was published on 4 May 2016. IKV Junior Researcher Ahmet Ceran assessed the problems of the visa requirements on Turkish citizens and shared the results of the study conducted by IKV on the economic costs induced by Schengen visa requirements to Turkish citizens.

Senior Expert of Integrated Border Management and Local Schengen Cooperation of Delegation of the European Union to Turkey Jörg Dieter Koestinger, Consul of Italian Consulate General in İstanbul Giulia Prati and Head of Visa Section of German Consulate General in İstanbul Alexander Dodt gave information to the participants about the C-type Schengen visa and responded the questions asked by the participants of the meeting.