Greater Birmingham looks to strengthen Turkish trading links

New moves to further trade links between the West Midlands and Turkey have been implemented by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC).

A delegation from the GBCC paid a lightning visit to Bursa, about 100 miles from Istanbul and met businesses looking to trade with UK SMEs.

The delegation visited several companies, including a textile giant and several manufacturing operations.

Paul Faulkner, the GBCC’s chief executive, said: “This was an extremely productive and insightful trip. There is so much potential in Turkey and one that West Midlands companies must take a close look at.

“It is obvious that many UK companies are fearful of even getting into export markets, but they do need to understand that there is huge potential out there.

“And it may not be obvious, but there are many countries like Turkey that UK businesses do not take seriously as potential partners.”

To drive this new understanding, the chamber has agreed to promote a Bursa International Summit, beginning at the end of November, which is being led by Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO).

“This will be a great opportunity for inquisitive and ambitious businesses in Greater Birmingham to start to explore and develop relationships with Bursa firms, and BTSO have made it clear that they will welcome us back with open arms and do all they can to facilitate the opening up of new relationships,” added Mr Faulkner.

The collaboration is strengthened because of the good transport links between the UK and Bursa, with 12 Turkish Airlines flights a week from Birmingham Airport.

Chamber of Commerce membership in Turkey is compulsory and the BTSO represents something like 40,000 members.

Cuneyt Sener, vice president of BTSO, said: “We really want to establish serious contact with UK companies and urge them to come here to see what we do.

“Bursa is a city of huge potential and we will shortly be opening a shopping centre in Moscow to sell goods from our region. We have plans to do similar exercises throughout the world.

“It is really important that UK companies come here and push themselves. They should tell us what they want from Bursa and we will be very happy to help them.”

The GBCC delegation included president Paul Kehoe, chief operating officer Russell Jeans and Professor Alex De Ruyter, Director of the Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University.

Mr Kehoe said: “Understanding this area is just an eye-opener and we need to spread the word on the success business out here are having. We need to be their allies.

“Between us we can provide links between Asia in the east through Bursa and through towards the west and the United States.”

Mr Jeans said: “We were all impressed with the tremendous enthusiasm here from businesses that have great synergies with the UK.

“The GBCC’s International Hub will be driving greater links with Turkey and Bursa in particular and we are happy to facilitate any company that wants to look at doing business there.”

The Birmingham delegation visited textile company Ilay Textile, which is planning to open a UK office to cope with a growing market here. Part of this is a yearly contract to supply Marks & Spencer with dress materials.

Durmazlar, established in 1987, is Turkey’s first sheet metal company and now employs 1,500 people, while Yepsan is an archetypical metal-bashing company that supplies components to Fiat, Bentley, VW, Audi and Volvo amongst others, whilst also having a huge defence and aviation division based in Turkey’s capital Ankara with customers like Boeing and Airbus. The company also specialises in manufacturing helicopter simulators and seats.

Pictured is: Paul Kehoe, Russell Jeans, Professor Alex De Ruyter, Anthony Abrahams, director general of Birmingham Chamber member Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and Paul Faulkner.