IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan made a speech at the Turkey-Greece Business Forum organized by DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board) on the 12^th November 2014 in Izmir. Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci and Greek Minister of Development and Competitiveness Konstantinos Skrekas delivered the opening speeches in the Forum.

IKV Chairman Vardan focused on common interests and shared future outlook as the basis of friendly relations between the two countries and underlined that recently, Turkey and Greece managed to place bilateral relations on a course of “sustainable stability”. Vardan noted that the improvement of political relations was reflected positively on economic relations and contributed to a considerable increase in investments and cooperation among Turkish and Greek firms.

Vardan underlined the positive effects of the visa facilitation measures adopted by Greece on the increase in human mobility between the two countries. He also called for the extensive development of maritime transport facilities between Greece and Turkey in order to further increase trade and economic cooperation.

IKV Chairman told the participants of the Forum that Turkish business is very much interested in investment opportunities in Greece and that the Turkish-Greek Business Council aims to support investment and business cooperation among the parties.

Vardan said: “As the Turkish business sector, we are closely interested in investment opportunities in Greece. I believe that partnerships between Turkish and Greek firms will elevate our economic relations to the anticipated level. Turkish firms will be motivated to invest more in Greece if bureaucratic procedures regarding investment, business and residence permits are simplified”.

Lastly, IKV Chairman also reiterated the importance of Turkey’s EU process for the improvement of bilateral relations and emphasised that relations between Greece and Turkey will further deepen and diversify in line with the acceleration of Turkey’s accession process to the EU.