TİM President Gülle Evaluates February 2019 Export Data

Turkey's Exporters Council (TİM) announced February export data at a press conference held in Ankara under the chairmanship of Commerce Minister Ruhsar Pekcan, with participation from the TİM Women's Council. February 2019 exports reached USD 13.6 billion, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, surpassing the same period's record from the previous year. According to the General Trade System, which includes free-zone exports and warehouse data, February exports totaled USD 14.3 billion. Speaking at the event, TİM President İsmail Gülle said: "Today we are setting a precedent in history by announcing our export data together with our TİM Women's Council members. For this reason, the data announced this month holds special significance for us. As you know, last February was the most successful export month we had ever achieved. This year we managed to deliver even stronger performance. Our compass now is to push even further the record we broke in the same month last year each month." In February, the automotive sector remained the leader with USD 2.5 billion. It was followed by chemicals and allied products with USD 1.6 billion and apparel and textiles with USD 1.4 billion. The sectors showing the highest export growth were shipbuilding and yachting with a 35 percent increase, chemicals and allied products with 30 percent, and jewelry with 28 percent. Looking at country data, the top three export destinations were Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Gülle: Including Women in the Struggle to Take Our Country into the Future is a Matter of Vital National Interest

Gülle, who thanked the TİM Women's Council for their participation and congratulated them on International Women's Day on 8 March, also provided information about the Women's Council's work. Gülle said: "Being able to include our women in this process in the struggle to take our country into the future is, so to speak, a matter of vital national interest. As you know, we established our Women's Council for the first time in TİM's history last October. When forming our council, it was certainly not our priority that the council only carry out work specific to women. For instance, the Zero Waste in Exports project, which is among our council's most important projects, is an area that has been prominent in the world for years, has been on TİM's agenda but has never been acted upon. I commend our council members' resolute stance on this matter and congratulate them in advance for the many projects they will carry out in the future. In this context, I congratulate all our women on 8 March, International Women's Day." he said.