The International Investors Association, YASED, the most important representative in Turkey of the world’s leading international investors, held its 30th Annual General Assembly on Thursday 24 February 2011.
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Taner Yıldız, was the Guest of Honour at the General Assembly, where the new term’s Board of Directors was elected.
In her speech at the General Assembly, YASED Chairman Piraye Antika said, ”With short-term political and financial stability achieved in Turkey, we believe that Turkey’s credit rating will be upgraded in the near future, and it will be ranked among investment-grade countries. However, the growth trend that is generating current account deficit raises questions about the long-term sustainability of this advantageous position; sustainability is crucial.”
The International Investors Association, YASED, held its 30th Annual General Assembly at Istanbul Tekfen Tower on Thursday 24 February 2011.
In her opening speech, Piraye Antika, YASED Chairman for the last two years, said, ”I’d like to thank all the Board Members and YASED’s personnel for their valuable support and the selfless contributions they made to both me and the YASED community during our term.”
“YASED celebrated the 30th anniversary of its founding in 2010. It is one of Turkey’s long-established non-governmental organizations, with a founding mission to help external capital or, though we don’t like to use the term, “foreign” capital achieve equal rights with local companies.”
“I believe that YASED’s changes of the last 2 years have been important building blocks, especially in reinforcing the corporate management principles of our Association.”
“In our term, we examined YASED’s mission and vision once again. We etablished our course of work basically as contributing to Turkey’s sustainable development. We converted YASED’s long-running Barometer member surveys into an index for the first time, and we hope that this index will be an important reference work for the business community. YASED’s Investors’ Expectation Index will continue as a name brand academic study. “
“In feedback from our members, the unregistered economy, taxes and incentives, legal assurance, employment and education policies, intellectual property rights, and R&D investments emerged as the most sensitive subjects for international capital. Finding solutions to these problems is on YASED’s list of priorities, and our discussion of many of these problems during consultations with economic officials sometimes resulted in definite solutions and most of the time resulted in positive steps forward. To be able to increase our effectiveness, we conducted a survey, for the first time in YASED’s history, on our reputation in the eyes of our stakeholders.”
“About the economy, Piraye Antika had these words. ”As leaders of international companies with investments in Turkey, we weathered the global economic and financial crisis and had a relatively quick macro-economic recovery compared to many other countries, especially in 2010 . We are growing fast because of domestic demand; however, our inability to increase domestic savings means we are overspending. We are more and more dependent on foreign savings for both capital and foreign debt.”
“The short-term financial and political stability we have achieved has made Turkey an attractive destination, especially among developing countries. We have seized a very valuable window of opportunity. In the near future, we expect Turkey’s credit rating score to be upgraded and Turkey to be ranked among investment-grade countries. However, the growth trend that is generating the current account deficit raises questions about the long-term sustainability of this advantageous position.”
Is there a long-term master plan which would make Turkey’s competitive advantages permanent?
It is aimed to decrease the growth rate of the banking sector. Monetary policy calls for a tightening of liquidity for the banks. Do these policies increase the risk of contraction of the market even more than desired? Can this process decrease the profitability of the banks and cause consolidation in the sector?
When and how can we become a base for design and technology with high added value?
“Without a doubt, developments in Gulf and Arab countries create new opportunities as well as risks for our country. Things will be much more difficult for a Turkey stuck between a Europe with economic difficulties and a bleeding Middle East.”
“The risk premium of our country is already below the risk premium of 14 European Union countries. To be able to grow fast in the near future term, we have to stabilise the flow of foreign savings to Turkey while increasing the rate of our domestic savings. To ensure this, it is critical to maintain our risk premium’s relative position.” ”
In his speech, Guest of Honour Minister Yıldız highlighted the importance of political stability for Turkey in recovering from the effects of the crisis. He commented on the effects of developments in the Middle East on the energy sector, emphasizing that their psychological dimension has become more dominant than their real dimension. Within the framework of the energy diversification policies, the Minister mentioned the works on nuclear energy carried out with Russia and Japan, and he indicated that the energy sector will keep playing a dominant role in international direct investments to Turkey. He pointed out that current, ongoing investments and license applications to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority show that Turkey’s investments requirements will be met until 2023.
After Minister Yıldız’s speech, election of the new Board of Directors and Board of Auditors started. Fifteen Board Members and three auditors were elected unanimously. The new Board of Directors will gather in the coming days to choose the new Chairman of YASED. The new Chairman and all the newly-elected members will serve for the next 2 years.
NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF YASED
BÜLENT ADANIR (AKBANK, BOARD MEMBER)
MÜJDAT ALTAY (NORTEL NETWORKS NETAŞ TELEKOMÜNİKASYON A.Ş., GENERAL MANAGER)
İBRAHİM AYBAR (RENAULT MAİS MOTORLU ARAÇLAR İMALAT VE SATIŞ A.Ş., GENERAL MANAGER)
GÜLDEM BERKMAN (NOVARTIS SAĞLIK GIDA VE TARIM ÜRÜN.SAN.VE TİC.A.Ş., GENERAL MANAGER)
TULU GÜMÜŞTEKİN (CPS CORPORATE & PUBLIC STRATEGY ADVISORY GROUP, CEO)
BURHAN GÜNDEM (ABB HOLDİNG A.Ş, CHAIRMAN AND COUNTRY MANAGER)
İ. TAMER HAŞİMOĞLU (TOFAŞ TÜRK OTOMOBİL FAB. A.Ş., KOÇ HOLDİNG HEAD OF STRATEGIC PLANNING)
İZZET KARACA (UNILEVER HOLDİNG A.Ş., CEO)
AKIN KOZANOĞLU (ERGO GRUBU HOLDİNG A.Ş., CEO)
GALYA MOLİNAS (COCA-COLA MEŞRUBAT PAZ. DAN. SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş., COUNTRY CHAIRMAN)
ADNAN NAS (PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS YÖN. DAN. A.Ş., SENIOR PARTNER)
KÜRŞAT ÖZKAN (GENERAL ELEKTRİK TİC. VE SERVİS A.Ş., GENERAL MANAGER)
CAN SUPHİ (BP PETROLLERİ A.Ş., COUNTRY CHAIRMAN)
SERPİL TİMURAY (VODAFONE TELEKOMÜNİKASYON A.Ş., CHAIRMAN OF EXECUTIVE BOARD)
DİLEK YARDIM (CREDIT AGRICOLE YATIRIM BANKASI TÜRK A.Ş., GENERAL MANAGER)
NEW BOARD OF AUDITORS OF YASED
H. CEMAL ERERDİ (AXA SİGORTA A.Ş., CHAIRMAN & CEO)
ABDÜLKADİR KAHRAMAN (KPMG AKİS BAĞIMSIZ DENETİM VE SMMM A.Ş., PARTNER)
SAFFET KARPAT (PROCTER & GAMBLE TÜK. MAL. SAN. A.Ş., GENERAL MANAGER)
(The lists are in alphabetical order of surnames.)