IKV attended the annual Joint Professional Committee organised by Kocaeli Chamber of Industry (KOSANO) which was held at Kartepe on 12-13 November 2016. The opening remarks of the meetings were realised by KOSANO Secretary General Memet Barış Turabi, KOSANO and IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu and KOSANO Assembly Chairman Hasan Tahsin Tuğrul. In the opening remarks, it was noted that 2016 is the 21^st year of KOSANO and the 14^th edition of the Joint Professional Committee meeting. Information was given with respect to the activities held within the framework of the chamber and education regarding professional competence. Furthermore, it was indicated that the chamber has launched a project regarding defence industry and that it was expected to be clustered in 2017. It was also indicated that meetings had been held with 50 different companies and 30 business meetings had been performed within the framework of KOSANO’s inventory work. Following the opening remarks, a workshop was held where 8 different groups gave their thoughts and views regarding Turkey’s credit noting dynamics. Later, IKV and KOSANO Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu revealed the details regarding the results of the workshop.

Following the workshop, a panel under the moderation of IKV and KOSANO Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu entitled “Turkey’s Credit Rating and its Effects” was held with the participation of PwC Turkey Advisory Partner Hüsnü Dinçsoy, Piri Reis University Rector Prof. Oral Erdoğan and IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas. In the panel, it was revealed that 16.8 billion dollars of foreign direct investments (FDI) were realised in Turkey in 2015 and that thus Turkey ranked 22 in the world in terms of amount of FDIs received. In that respect, it was also indicated that whilst Turkey had a small amount of FDIs of approximately 1 billion dollars before 2002, there had been a steady and significant increase in the amount of investments between 2004 and 2008 and that Turkey had become a primary production centre in its own region, which equates to new and great opportunities in terms of investment. Another point which was indicated was the fact that there is a slowing down globally in terms of mergers and acquisitions but that investment are continuing significantly in China, South Korea and the Middle East. Moreover, it was also noted that Turkey is currently faced with a difficulty in finding international financing and that political uncertainty had an adverse effect upon further investments.

With respect to Turkey’s EU accession process, it was stressed that whilst there are indeed some obstacles to further progress, one need to indicate that there are also other processes such as the Visa Liberalisation Dialogue and the negotiations regarding the modernisation of the Customs Union which are expected to be launched in 2017. Moreover, it was also indicated that in the latest Progress Report published by the Commission, for the first time, it was noted that there was also backslide with respect to Turkey’s compliance with the economic criteria. In that respect, it was highlighted that it is of critical importance for Turkey to implement thoroughly EU norms in order to further progress in its EU accession process.