The 62^nd General Assembly of İKV was held in Istanbul on 11 July 2024 with the participation of the presidents of the Foundation’s Founding and Trustee Institutions, representatives of Supporting Organisations and delegates. Kocaeli Chamber of Industry (KCI) Assembly President Hasan Tahsin Tuğrul served as the Chairman of the General Assembly, Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) Council Member and Professional Committee Chairman Mehmet Nuri Görenoğlu served as the Vice President of the Council, and İKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas served as the clerk. The opening speeches of the General Assembly were given by IKV Chairperson Ayhan Zeytinoğlu, ICI Vice President İrfan Özhamaratlı, Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) Vice President Tamer Kıran and Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay.

In his speech, Chairperson Zeytinoğlu stated that revitalizing Türkiye's candidacy process with the EU will increase the living standards of Turkish citizens and increase the gains of the Turkish business world, while noting that the delays and obstructions experienced in the visa processes of Turkish citizens weaken the dialogue between the Turkish society and the EU communities and thus have a negative impact on the accession process of Türkiye. Stating that the customs union cannot meet today’s requirements and that it needs to be modernised for it to be more efficient, Chairperson Zeytinoğlu concluded his speech by emphasizing that İKV continues to inform the public and the business circles on different regulations and various issues that may concern Türkiye and the Turkish business circles.

İrfan Özhamaratlı, Vice President of ISO, said that İKV, of which ISO is one of the founders, is a source of pride for the Turkish private sector as it has developed Türkiye-EU relations since the day it was founded, and that İKV has involved in various agendas such as establishing Additional Protocol and the Customs Union, and it took tole in promoting Türkiye. Özhamaratlı added that Türkiye's mutual trade volume with the EU is quite high and the absolute capacity in bilateral trade relations has yet to be reached and the need for reaching the maximum trade capacity remains vital. Özhamaratlı also stated that the customs union should be modernised, and the visa policy should be reviewed, and he concluded his speech by sharing that overcoming the challenges regarding the visa issue is as important as reaching the targets set regarding modernisation of the customs union.

TOBB Vice President Tamer Kıran started his speech by sharing a brief history of Türkiye-EU relations and he stated that İKV, which has a salient presence in the economic field, is the representative of Türkiye-EU business circles’ integration. Commenting that the Türkiye-EU High Level Dialogue on Trade to be a positive development for the business circle, Kıran stated that the visa problem affects the growth of Türkiye's trade volume while underlying that although road transportation in the context of exports provides an advantage, existing quotas for deliveries of the goods cause delays, and he concluded his speech by emphasizing the need to solve this problem.

T.R. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay began his speech by stating that the international system is trying to reintegrate itself and is struggling with handling the problems created by an irregularity, and that an age where protectionist and international actors are trying to narrow down their space is being witnessed. Stating that İKV is needed more than before in this period when uncertainties increase and, protectionism as well as reshaping moves continue, Bozay concluded that İKV guides policymaking on handling the international developments regarding how they might affect Türkiye and that İKV will continue to serve as an accompanying partner to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the future as it did in the past.

Following the opening speeches, İKV’s work and budgetary instructions along with audit reports for 2023 were released and the 2024 work program and budget instruction were unanimously accepted. Finally, İKV Chairperson Ayhan Zeytinoğlu expressed his gratitude to the delegates on behalf of the İKV Board of Directors and the meeting ended.