USAnkara Embassy Agriculture Undersecretary Michael Francom and his accompanying delegation consisting of agricultural experts visited İzmir Commodity Exchange. Chairman of the Board of Directors Işınsu Kestelli, Speaker of the Assembly Barış Kocagöz and the delegation, which was welcomed by the Stock Exchange Management, were introduced to the activities of the Stock Exchange and briefed on the Izmir Agricultural Technology Center Project.
Making the opening speech of the meeting, Işınsu Kestelli, Chairman of the Board of Directors of İzmir Commodity Exchange, said, “Turkey and the United States of America are two friendly and allied countries. As two countries, we have always managed to come together on a common line on issues that concern the fate of our region and the world. This harmonious partnership also manifests itself in trade at all times. last year feels stronger. In 2021, our bilateral trade volume reached a record 28 billion dollars. The USA became the second largest country in Turkey's exports. In the same year, agriculture and food from Turkey to the USA amounted to 1 billion 94 million dollars. In January of this year, our agriculture and food exports increased by 76% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 120 million dollars. 30% of this amount was realized by Aegean companies. It will be instrumental in opening the doors of our business and our commercial relations will grow for the benefit of both countries. will eat,” he said.
Işınsu Kestelli stated that the USA is a very strong agricultural country and that they know very well about its innovative works in this field.It will encourage more sustainable agricultural activities,İzmir Agricultural Technology Center (ITTM), one of our newest and most ambitious projects that we have implemented with the aim of making İzmir a center of attraction for agricultural technologies and initiatives and an R&D base for agricultural technologies in a regional, national and international context, is a livinglab. We set out with the aim of leading and providing training and consultancy services accordingly. We aim to make ITTM not only a start-up center where new generation production technologies emerge, but also to create a valuable ecosystem ranging from experience sharing to new financial assets, and in this context, we aim to cooperate with the USA. We are open,” he said.
Underlining that İzmir has been an agricultural city that has come to the forefront with its productive and quality production since the first day of its existence, Kestelli said, “It is a very lucky city with an area of approximately 200 thousand square kilometers on 12 kilometers of fertile lands stretching from the north to the south. Thanks to its sunny weather and Gediz-Menderes-Bakırçay basins, it allows a very rich vegetation to grow. It has the potential to acquire a new and strong identity within the rapidly changing agricultural balances in the world. It is an important port city that sends products to the whole world. Until 300-100 years ago, having a quality product and having a port where you can load it was enough for you to stand out in the global competition. But now things have changed. You must produce more, obtain higher quality products; While doing this, we should reduce costs by using less fertilizer and water, increase revenues by branding, respect the environment, and we should not neglect to calculate our carbon footprint in every step we take. This is where information technology, internet of things, big data come into play. even unity can make a big difference for the future. We must do this not only to earn more income, but also for the common future of humanity. While the world population was only around 150 billion 1920 million in 1, it has reached 900 billion 7 million today. Although the rate of increase slows down every year, in 950 It is expected that there will be 2050 percent more population than today. It is inevitable to expect the global food demand to increase in parallel. emerges as a necessity. How will we achieve this when there are so many difficulties?” The answer to this question is in technology; It lies in making maximum use of the possibilities of technology. And this answer is one of the reasons that prompted us to develop the Izmir Agricultural Technology Center project.
Mentioning that agriculture is also social justice, Işınsu Kestelli said, “Today, agriculture constitutes 6,4 percent of the global economy. 40 percent of the total workforce in the world works directly or indirectly in the agricultural sector. It employs 68 percent of them. Everyone needs to realize this fact, and especially governments need to contribute to the sustainability of agriculture and the agricultural population with long-term plans and high supports. we need smart agriculture to live"He said.
After the opening speech of Işınsu Kestelli, İzmir Commodity Exchange General Secretary Dr. Erçin Güdücü made a presentation on Exchange activities and İzmir Agricultural Technology Center Project.
İzmir Commodity Exchange General Coordinator Zeynep Tansugise shared information about Borsa's gastronomy activities with the delegation.
US Undersecretary of Agriculture Michael Francom stated that he had previously worked in South Korea, Ethiopia, China in his 20-year tenure and is currently responsible for Turkey, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and several different countries.
Stating that they came to Izmir to meet with different organizations and companies operating in the field of agriculture and that they visited ITB in this context, Francom said that the idea behind the Izmir Agricultural Technology Center Project was extraordinary, and congratulated Izmir Commodity Exchange for bringing this idea to life. stated that joint studies can be carried out between institutions specific to the project.
After the presentation, ideas were exchanged between the delegations of the two parties on projects and studies that could allow inter-institutional cooperation.
At the end of the meeting, the American Delegation Secretary General of the Izmir Commodity Exchange Dr. Erçin Güdücü, accompanied by Deputy Secretary General Sinem Çelikten and the technical team, visited the Historical Stock Exchange Palace and Pamuk Korbey and got information about the transactions.
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