The business mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Istanbul included scheduled meetings and contacts by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Extroversion, Kostas Fragogiannis, during his two-day visit to Istanbul on February 1 and 2, 2024. He was accompanied by the Secretary General of International Economic Relations and President of Enterprise Greece, Maira Myrogianni.
The business communities of Greece and Turkey showed strong interest in further developing their collaborations, following the B2B meetings held within the framework of the Business Forum hosted on Friday, February 2, at the Council of Foreign Economic Relations of Turkey (DEIK), in collaboration with Enterprise Greece.
Ven Engineering, a member of the V Group, and its Commercial Director, Joseph Hosni, participated in the Forum along with approximately 100 Greek entrepreneurs who traveled from Greece and others operating in Turkey. Additionally, around 200 Turkish entrepreneurs from various sectors of the economy, including food and beverages, construction, maritime equipment, energy and renewables, high technology, and tourism, were present.
During the Business Forum, Mr. Fragogiannis had an informal meeting with the Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and his counterpart for Positive Agenda issues, Burak Akcapar. They discussed future steps and renewed their appointment for April in Turkey. The two Deputy Ministers also had the opportunity for a brief conversation with the heads of the proposed Greece-Turkey Business Council, George Prokopiou and Adnan Polat, respectively.
It is worth noting that the establishment of the Greece-Turkey Business Council is a separate theme of the Positive Agenda and is expected to play an active role in institutionalizing systematic and targeted bilateral business cooperation.
As part of the visit to Istanbul, the delegation visited the offices of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, where they were presented with the industrial zones of Turkey. They also engaged with members of the local academic community at an event at Kadir Has University.
Concluding the visit, Mr. Hosni expressed satisfaction with the hospitable climate encountered by the Greek business mission in Istanbul and expressed optimism about the positive prospects of bilateral economic and business cooperation.