Saturday 18 Jan
Ahmed Al-Wakil, President of the Union of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME) and President of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, visited the Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MTSO). During his visit, he met with President Hakan Sefer Cakir and members of the board of directors. The meeting focused on exploring avenues for enhanced cooperation between the two chambers to bolster trade relations between Egypt and Turkey.
During the meeting, Al-Wakil announced the establishment of a 5-million-square-meter Turkish industrial zone in Borg El Arab. This decision, reached during a previous meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Transport General Kamel El-Wazir and the President of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), Rifat Hisaroglu Oglu, will offer investment opportunities across sectors and bolster trade ties between Egypt and Turkey. He also emphasized the importance of reactivating the Ro-Ro shipping services between the ports of Mersin and Alexandria, noting that both sides had discussed the necessary steps to achieve this.
Al-Wakil announced the launch of
a new sector within ASCAME to support the agriculture and food security sector,
aiming to facilitate the implementation of joint projects in Mediterranean
countries. Preliminary discussions were held during the visit to organize a
summit on this topic in Mersin with the participation of 23 countries later
this year.
Cakir presented a mechanism for organizing B2B bilateral meetings facilitated by artificial intelligence, a system recently implemented by the Mersin Chamber. He highlighted the potential benefits of organizing such meetings concurrently with the summit, with the participation of Mediterranean countries, to stimulate investment and trade exchange between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
