Jak Eskinazi Re-elected as EİB Coordinator Chairman

Jak Eskinazi Re-elected as EİB Coordinator President The general assembly marathon at Aegean Exporters Unions, which began on 1 April 2022, concluded with the election of the Coordinator President. Jak Eskinazi, Chairman of the Board of the Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Union, was re-elected as EİB Coordinator President. Eskinazi will represent 8,500 exporters within EİB over the next four years. Yalçın Ertan, President of the Aegean Iron and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters Union, and Hayrettin Uçak, President of the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Union, will serve as EİB Coordinator Vice President for the 2022-26 period. Mehmet Ali Işık, President of the Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Union, was appointed as EİB Sustainability and Organic Products President.

Eskinazi: "Our target is to reach USD 25 billion in exports"

Jak Eskinazi stated that they had experienced a very harmonious period during 2018-22 at EİB, and that they had increased EİB's exports by 35% over the 4-year process from USD 13 billion to USD 17.5 billion. He said, "We are determined to maintain the same harmony in the 2022-2026 period. Innovation, R&D, Design, Sustainability, Vocational Training, and Digitalization will be the subject headings we will focus on over the next four years. Through the work we will carry out over 4 years, we will make efforts to raise EİB's exports above USD 25 billion by 2026."

Yalçın Ertan: "We will focus on new markets and trade missions"

  Yalçın Ertan, President of the Aegean Iron and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters Union, who contributed dedicated work to the union's 110% increase in exports over the last 4 years, raising it above USD 2.5 billion, will assume the position of EİB Coordinator Vice President along with his role as Chairman of the Board of the Aegean Iron and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters Union for the 2022-26 period. Emphasizing that Turkey is going through an economically difficult period, EİB Coordinator Vice President Yalçın Ertan said, "Since 1980, I have been working to contribute to our country's exports. The pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the world's economic balance and also affected our country. However, due to restrictions imposed by Europe, America and other countries on Russia's exports of raw materials and semi-finished products, our country has had the opportunity over the last month to procure raw materials and semi-finished products from Russia at more favorable prices. Due to these restrictions on Russia and the forced decline in Ukraine's iron and steel production and exports, there has been increased demand for Turkish iron and steel products in foreign markets. We are trying to make the best use of this. We have left the pandemic behind. With the end of the pandemic, fairs, sectoral trade missions and purchasing delegations will accelerate further. We face an intensive four-year period ahead; our sector is in a process of capacity expansion. Approximately 13-15 million tonnes of capacity increase will come online over the next 4 years. I am very pleased to be in a position to guide our exporters and support them during this process," he said. Highlighting that he was responsible for fresh fruit and vegetable and processed products sectors in the Aegean Region as President of the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Union during the past four-year period, EİB Coordinator Vice President Hayrettin Uçak said he was excited and pleased to bear responsibility for 7 agricultural unions in the coming period, and expressed his gratitude to the Aegean Exporters Unions Board Chairmen who deemed him worthy of this position. Sharing information that the Aegean Region is Turkey's leader in agricultural product exports exceeding USD 6 billion annually, Uçak said, "We are strong players globally in many products including fruit and vegetable products, aquatic products and animal products, dried fruits, olives and olive oil, tobacco, non-wood forest products, spices, and poppy seeds. Our goal will be to reach USD 10 billion in agricultural product exports in 4 years." Aegean Exporters Unions members generate 75% of Turkey's organic product exports. Mehmet Ali Işık, President of the Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters Union, who was selected as the first union president from the organic sector in the 83-year history of exporter unions in Turkey, will serve as EİB Sustainability and Organic Products President in the Presidium of EİB Chairmen for the 2022-26 period.   As a representative from the organic sector, first becoming a union president and subsequently selected as Aegean Exporters Unions Sustainability and Organic Products President, EİB Organic Products President Mehmet Ali Işık said this selection is valuable in demonstrating the value Aegean exporters attach to sustainability and the organic sector. He said, "As Aegean Exporters Unions, we designated 2020 as "Sustainability Year." We established a Sustainability department within EİB. We calculated the carbon and water footprint of our unions. Recently, we became the first exporter union to release a "Sustainability Report."   In the coming period, through our URGE Projects centered on sustainability, we will increase the sustainability competencies of our exporting companies, and we will prepare greenhouse gas emission inventories for our companies participating in URGE Projects. We will prepare our sectors for EU Green Deal criteria. My role as EİB Sustainability and Organic Products President will be a driving force for the Turkish organic sector as well. Currently at the USD 500 million level, we will work intensively with the organic sector to raise organic product exports to USD 1 billion by the end of my four-year term. In global trends toward healthy food, this will be our strength. I express my thanks to the union presidents who supported my selection as EİB Organic Products President," he said.