Turkey-world trade bridge 2009 opens in Istanbul

The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists' (TUSKON) Turkey-World Trade Bridge 2009 opened its doors yesterday with a grand inauguration ceremony in Istanbul with the attendance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan and numerous trade ministers from across the world. Speaking at the opening of the event, Premier Erdogan praised TUSKON for initiating the trade bridge at a time of global economic crisis which had negative impacts on the world trade. Nearly 3,200 businessmen from Turkey and 2,300 others from 135 countries will evaluate the chances of establishing trade deals with each other during the three-day summit. The event is expected to directly contribute to Turkey's economy with an increase of more than $7 billion in trade. 455 companies from the construction and real estate sectors, 376 from the agricultural sector and 209 from the food and beverage industry are exhibiting at the trade bridge. Other major fields include chemicals, energy, electronics, computer software and hardware, furniture, textiles, jewelry and precious stones. Following the ceremony, a panel discussion entitled "The Future of Global Trade: Opportunities and New Possibilities for Cooperation" was held.