“At the consultation meeting on the crisis in Russia, LASİAD (Association of Anatolian Business Lions) President Giyasettin Eyyüpkoca’s solution report was evaluated.
A consultation meeting was held to assess the crisis in Russia and generate solution proposals. LASİAD President Giyasettin Eyyüpkoca attended the meeting held at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce on behalf of LASİAD, and other attendees included İTO (Istanbul Chamber of Commerce) Chairman İbrahim Çağlar, İTO Board Member Servet Samsama, İTHİB (Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association) President İsmail Gülle, OTİAD (Foreign Trade Businessmen Association) President İlker Karataş, MESİAD (Men Clothing Industrialists and Businessmen Association) President Yusuf Gecü, BATİAD (Istanbul Ready-to-Wear Exporters’ Association) President Aydın Erten, TGSD (Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association) President Şeref Fayat, and sector representatives. The meeting, which started with dinner, featured opening speeches by Çağlar and Gülle. In his speech, Çağlar emphasized the importance of unity and solidarity in overcoming the current crisis. Referring to the meeting organized by İTHİB, Çağlar said, ‘Upon hearing about the organization you have conducted, we immediately thought that we should take action together to find ways to solve the problems. At this stage, we should unite our forces, do whatever needs to be done together, and overcome the problems together. We are conducting meetings with the competent authorities regarding the crisis in Russia. We must join forces, bring our sector representatives with us, and organize a large and rich event to achieve good results. I believe that we can easily overcome the problems with this joint action. Giyasettin Eyyüpkoca’s prepared report is very comprehensive. When we discuss the items in this report, we will thoroughly evaluate all the problems.’
İTHİB President İsmail Gülle expressed special thanks to Giyasettin Eyyüpkoca for his interest and effort in the solution phase. Emphasizing the need to continue solution-oriented work, Gülle said, ‘We see that those great and European brands that we trust and respect are collapsing like paper castles. Therefore, we should take bold steps without fear. By reading the current situation well today, we should make good moves. At this stage, we need your valuable ideas.’
“With Our Resolute Attitude, We Must Overcome the Situation”
After the opening speeches, Eyyüpkoca, as the first speaker, emphasized that crises can only be resolved through organizations made collectively. Eyyüpkoca said, ‘We can only solve crises by acting together. We must show a firm attitude in our statements and posture. If necessary, we should show that we are acting very cautiously, eliminating any uncertainty.’ Pointing out that Laleli Fashion Shopping will organize its fourth edition this year, Eyyüpkoca stated that the sole purpose of this major event is not just entertainment. Mentioning that one of the reasons for regularly organizing such events is to foresee these crises, Eyyüpkoca, the President of LASİAD, stated, ‘These kinds of crises are always possible in the trade sector. We foresaw any possible crisis by reading the changing world and political landscapes, and we tried to prevent it with such organizations.’
At this stage, Eyyüpkoca mentioned that one of the important ways to follow is to continue searching for target markets and creating new target markets. He said, ‘We all know that one of the major markets in the world is Africa. In this regard, in our bilateral meetings with Ghana, we concluded that Africa is open to becoming our new target market. Ghana is one of the most reliable countries in the region and the central point of the region. With these new markets, we have a high chance of closing the gap in Russia.’ Following Eyyüpkoca’s presentation, participants discussed existing problems within the scope of the solution report and made suggestions to overcome the crisis.”
