Bagis and Hisarciklioglu meet 600 Turkish businesspeople

ANKARA

A Turkish private sector delegation co-headed by Turkey's EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and Chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Rifat Hisarciklioglu met with 600 Turkish businesspeople living in Europe at the Rotterdam Port on Thursday.
In a written statement released on Thursday, TOBB said that the Turkish business delegation was accompanied by Chairperson of the Turkish-Dutch Business Council Bert de Nooijer and Chairperson of the Chamber of Commerce of Rotterdam Corr Becker while meeting the 600 businesspeople.
Speaking at the meeting, Bagis thanked the Netherlands for the warm hospitality displayed to Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Bagis said that the Dutch side brought up the issue of visas applied to Turkish citizens and that they received a promise from the Dutch side for easier visas.
92 percent of the Dutch economy is made up of small and medium scale businesses. Further cooperation between Turkey and the Netherlands is possible, Bagis stressed.
Hisarciklioglu, in his part, said that the Turkish economy grew 8.5 percent in 2011 thanks to the success of its private sector.
Turks who had migrated to Europe in the 1960s have written success stories. 20,000 businesses established by Turks in the Netherlands provide jobs to 55,000 people, Hisarciklioglu indicated.
If the Turks act as united in places where they live, they can achieve more successful results, Hisarciklioglu added.