Election Held at Ege Mineral Exporters' Association

Election Held at Aegean Mining Exporters Association İbrahim Alimoğlu was elected Chairman of the Aegean Mining Exporters Association Board of Directors with 375 votes. Two lists competed at the General Assembly of the Aegean Mining Exporters Association held at the Historic Gas Factory. The purple list, with İbrahim Alimoğlu as presidential candidate, won the election with 375 votes, while the yellow list with Serkan Sarıçiçek as presidential candidate received 292 votes. Jak Eskinazi became Board Chairman, while Ertan Öncü and Mustafa Özer took office as Board Secretaries. Mevlüt Kaya, who was Board Chairman of the Aegean Mining Exporters Association during 2014-22, said: "For 8 years we said 'Our Life is Mining,' and we operated with the motto 'Production regardless, exports regardless.' We successfully held the Our Life is Mining Workshops four times alternately with the Istanbul Mining Exporters Association, bringing together all stakeholders in the sector to increase our exports and demonstrate to the public that our sector conducts sustainable, environmentally conscious mining." Kaya continued: "We implemented a scholarship project at minimum wage rates with the Istanbul Mining Exporters Association and the Western Mediterranean Exporters Association to encourage talented young people to pursue mining engineering, geological engineering and ore preparation engineering. We provided scholarships totaling TRY 1,407,000 to 137 successful young engineers in three engineering fields. When we started eight years ago, the share of processed products in our Association's natural stone exports was below 50%. Today we have increased it to 76%. This rate is at around 60% nationally. Throughout my term, we worked to ensure unity in the mining sector," he said.

Kaya: We increased our exports to USD 1,123 million with a 30% rise during my term

  Noting that 16 civil society organizations came together with significant contributions from all stakeholders in the sector to establish the Mining Platform, Kaya said: "We conducted successful joint work in Ankara to resolve the sector's problems. Protecting this unity going forward is very important for our sector. Despite the pandemic, economic crisis and war, with the motto 'Production regardless, exports regardless,' we increased the Aegean Mining Exporters Association's exports to USD 1,123 million with a 30% increase during my term."  

We will increase our exports to USD 12 billion by the end of 2025

  İbrahim Alimoğlu said: "Our Association achieved USD 1,123 million in exports in 2021 thanks to you. We increased our exports by 30%. I sincerely thank you for this success. Our country is building its growth model on production and exports. Therefore, we need to hold a stronger position in world markets. We are candidates for this. So to speak, you are facing a management as solid as stone. You are facing a team that will make a sound when it strikes the table. You are facing a team that will leave every door it knocks on with a solution to problems." İbrahim Alimoğlu said: "We will hold the 5th Mining Workshop in Afyonkarahisar, the heart of mining. We will increase the share of processed product exports in natural stone exports to 75% in Turkey and 90% in the Aegean. We will increase export revenues from USD 6 billion to USD 12 billion by the end of 2025. We will implement projects in the metaverse to promote and market Turkish minerals to the world. For us, people come first, then the environment, then mining. We will establish the concept of green mining in the sector with the support of our young people. We will elevate the amorphous design competition to an international scale."