The opening speech of the event was made by Head of Turkey Office Dr. Hans-Georg Fleck. In his speech, Dr. Fleck stated that after 25 years of the foundation in Turkey, it is more important than ever to support the Turkish civil society, academia and liberals in doing their work.  

In the panel on “Free Trade, Open Boarders, Multilateral Trade Agreements-Liberal Values in a Period of Change” moderated by Secretary-General of Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation Arda Batu, IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas in her speech underlined the effects of globalisation on international trade and informed the audience about the modernisation process of Customs Union. Other distinguished guests attended the event were Vice-President of the Foundation Prof. Karl-Heinz Paqué, Head of EU Delegation to Turkey Christian Berger and Secretary-General of Turkish Industry and Business Association Bahadır Kaleağası.