Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Memduh Büyükkılıç received the delegation of 17 people, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut and 21 ambassadors, in his office.
Flowers were presented to the European ambassadors who were welcomed by Mayor Büyükkılıç at the entrance of the municipality.
Speaking at the meeting held in the mayor's office, Metropolitan Mayor Dr. Memduh Büyükkılıç said, “We are honored to host you in Kayseri. "Our Kayseri is a city of commerce and industry with a history of 6 thousand years, a commercial environment of 4 thousand years, and an approach that writes and creates laws," he said.
Explaining that they are making efforts to bring Kayseri to the fore in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry rather than just seeing it as a trade and industry city, Mayor Büyükkılıç said that Kayseri is a city that does not have serious infrastructure problems and that cares about green production, green management and green organized industry process. He stated that they are working on it.
“WE TRY TO MANAGE OUR CITY TO COMPLY WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION CRITERIA”
Büyükkılıç stated that they are careful to bring green to the city with an environmentally friendly approach and said, “We continue our efforts to manage our city in accordance with the European Union criteria and to be involved in that process, in cooperation with our businessmen and industrial organizations. "I would like to share that we are a city that exports to around 150 countries and stands out in terms of both import and export with European countries," he said.
Reminding that work on smart city projects continues in cooperation with local governments, public institutions and organizations, and that they will establish a Smart Urbanization Department, Mayor Büyükkılıç said that they have also implemented the Disaster Department regarding resilient cities and that they will demonstrate a more disciplined management approach in this field. .
“KAYSERİ IS AN EASY TO TRANSPORT CITY”
Büyükkılıç said that they are known as the municipality that allocates the highest share to investment among the 30 metropolitan cities and that they are trying to shift 43 percent of the investments to the provinces.
Metropolitan Mayor Dr. Memduh Büyükkılıç stated that transportation to the city is easy by air, road and railway and said, “Our Kayseri is a safe port, we are in the heart and center of Central Anatolia, there is easy transportation to this beautiful city. "By air, you can easily reach Kayseri from Istanbul in 1 hour and Erciyes Ski Center in 20 minutes," he said.
Mayor Büyükkılıç, talking about a city that exports twice as much as imports, said, “Our goal is to increase the comfort of people and not to be a burden on the economy. "We are pleased with the figures that we export twice as much as we import," he said.
Büyükkılıç explained that 5 universities have made a name for themselves on an international scale, that there are students from all countries in Kayseri, and that Kayseri is a dynamic city.
Stating that the Metropolitan Municipality has quite large projects regarding EU projects and they have been implemented, Büyükkılıç thanked the Head of the European Union Delegation to Turkey, Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, for his contributions so far and stated that they expect more.
AMBASSADORS MENTIONED THE KAYSERİ ECONOMY WITH PRAISE
Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, who started his speech by thanking them for accepting them and showing hospitality, stated that he has visited Kayseri many times and shared that they learned that Kayseri's economy is very dynamic, and industrial, commercial and agricultural activities are at the forefront.
Stating that he was very happy to be in Kayseri with European diplomats, Meyer-Landrut also stated that they had the opportunity to get one-on-one information about the functioning and qualities of the city. Adding in his speech that the most important element of the relationship between Turkey and the European Union countries is economy and trade, Meyer-Landrut emphasized that industrialists and business people have a great impact on the development of these relations.
“KAYSERİ HAS A VERY BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN”
Speaking during the visit, French Ambassador to Ankara Isabelle Dumont stated that snow and skiing are of great importance in the country of most of her colleagues and noted that Kayseri also has a very beautiful mountain and is important in this sense.
“KAYSERİ IS A CITY OPEN TO INNOVATION AND INNOVATION”
Upon Dumont's question about how the issue was evaluated in Kayseri in the context of the problems experienced regarding climate change and whether it would be possible to cooperate on this issue, Metropolitan Mayor Dr. Memduh Büyükkılıç stated that Kayseri is also affected by climate change and that Kayseri is a city that is sensitive to this issue. Mayor Büyükkılıç explained that, as the Metropolitan Municipality, they are turning to renewable energy sources, and that efforts are being made to use water more carefully and awareness-raising activities are being carried out. Büyükkılıç also added that they are making efforts to show the necessary sensitivity regarding the carbon footprint regarding the environment. Büyükkılıç stated that the need for snow, which was missing from time to time, was met with artificial snow in Erciyes and said, "Kayseri is a city open to innovation and innovativeness."
Büyükkılıç stated that they have an approach that cares about global warming and said:
“While we are working on our irrigation using closed irrigation and drip methods, we are also implementing solar power projects in the energy dimension. We have solar power projects. We have biogas projects. We have projects called rainwater harvesting. At the same time, we do not discharge rainwater into the wastewater channel. We continue our work to re-evaluate them through a separate channel. We have combi boiler projects related to natural gas. We gift combi boilers to families in need. Therefore, we contribute to their budget. We are trying to prevent the use of coal. We are considered to have delivered natural gas to all 16 districts. We have also come a long way in terms of air pollution. Kayseri is the city to live in.”