Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan attended the workshop within the scope of the “Women’s Summit on the Way to Cooperative” held in Aksaray via video conference.
In her speech at the workshop, Pekcan stated that various events will be held in Aksaray for 4 days and the “Cooperative Bus” will visit the districts, and in this context, they aim to collect cooperative ideas and project the ones deemed appropriate, especially in order to jointly meet the needs of women entrepreneurs, farmers and producers.
Pointing out that cooperatives operate in many different fields, from agricultural products to transportation, from education to energy, Pekcan said, “We see in many successful examples how our women entrepreneurs, in particular, come together and create added value on the way to becoming a cooperative. In developed and developing countries, cooperative enterprises make critical contributions to the economies when they are structured correctly.” We see.” said.
Explaining that cooperatives accelerate the integration of women into the workforce and economic life, Pekcan noted that, as the Ministry, they aim to include women and disadvantaged groups who have not been able to integrate into economic life into a productive ecosystem.
Pointing out that Turkey has a great potential for the development of cooperatives with its cultural heritage and fertile lands, Pekcan said, “Our local potentials and local dynamics in agricultural products, handicrafts, industry and trade, and tourism-oriented activities are quite strong, creative and productive. Our cooperatives, this “They play extremely important roles in bringing local dynamics to life.” he said.
Grant support for the expenses of women’s cooperatives
Stating that, as the Ministry, they aim to support women entrepreneurs and cooperatives with all means, Pekcan also touched upon the Cooperatives Support Project (KOOP-DES).
Minister Pekcan stated that KOOP-DES provides grant support to sustainable projects of cooperatives that will contribute to production and employment, and stated that as a first practice this year, applications for support for women’s cooperatives have been received as of July 15.
Pekcan stated that, in this context, support will be provided for the machinery and equipment purchases of the cooperatives, the fixture needs of the elderly, disabled and child care centers to be opened, participation in exhibitions and fairs regarding the promotion and marketing of the products produced, and the recruitment of qualified personnel, and said, “This type of expenses will be provided as a percentage of the expenses of our cooperatives operating in Aksaray.” “We will give grants up to a maximum of 150 thousand liras until the age of 75. Our expectation is that our women’s cooperatives will be successful.” said.
“We want our cooperatives to export”
Pekcan, who also gave information about the activities of the Ministry of Commerce regarding women’s entry into business and commercial life, said:
“Thanks to all our projects and supports, the number of women tradesmen has reached 325 thousand 794. In the last year, the number of women tradesmen has increased by 33 thousand. Our goal is to increase this even further. Despite the pandemic and the contractions in the international trade environment, we want to ensure that more of our women are integrated into economic life and international markets.” to ensure.”
Pekcan also touched upon the importance of cooperative activities for the Turkish economy and said:
“Our Ministry is by your side with all its support to accelerate local development, create added value locally, create employment and prevent migration, ensure the integration of our women and disadvantaged groups that have not been integrated into economic life, and carry out cooperative activities that have very important returns. To enable our cooperatives to market goods and services to the whole world and “We want them to become exporters. We have very successful cooperatives in the field of exports.”
Minister Pekcan added that they aim to further increase Aksaray’s exports thanks to female entrepreneurs.
Source: https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ekonomi/bakan-pekcan-proje-ve-desteklerim-son-1-yilda-kadin-esnaf-sayimiz-33-bin-artti/1945492
