Tatarstan President meets with President of Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry

On April 30, Tatarstan delegation led by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov met with President of Executive Board of Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry Çetin Osman Budak at CCI headquarters in Antalya.

Çetin Osman Budak briefly told members of Tatarstan delegation about the chamber. Founded in 1882, the chamber consists of 57,000 businessmen and is the second oldest Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Turkey. Also, it includes 532 companies with Russian participation that are working in the region.

Tourism and agriculture are the main business areas in Antalya. By and large, 12 million foreign tourists visited the region last year.

According to Çetin Osman Budak, though the industry is not well developed in Antalya, the regional leadership aims at its development. There is a special economic zone engaged in production of yachts in the province.

Çetin Osman Budak expressed his hope that today's Tatarstan-Turkey forum in Antalya will be successful. "Our province is rapidly growing, and our entrepreneurs need new areas and markets for development," he added.

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, in his turn, reminded that Tatarstan and Turkey have enjoyed long-standing warm relations. “Our languages and cultures have much in common and this has always brought us together," R.Minnikhanov said.

According to him, it is important to develop business between Russia and Turkey. A Tatarstan is a good place to promote Turkish business in the Russian market. “Currently, Turkish companies are actively working in Tatarstan, and we need to continue this trend. To do this, we are developing cooperation with Turkish regions," Tatarstan President said.

According to Rustam Minnihanova, regular fully filled flights between Tatarstan cities and Istanbul, as well as chartered touristic flights are evidence of dynamic relations between Tatarstan and Turkey.

"But tourism should be further developed, with the tourist flow coming to our region as well. We have a lot of interesting sites, and we need to work hard to attract Turkish tourists to Tatarstan," Tatarstan President said.

"The potential of Antalya is huge, and we should make use of it", Rustam Minnikhanov summed up.

Aide to Tatarstan President on international issues Radik Gimatdinov, Chief Executive of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Linar Yakupov, Chairman of State Committee on Tourism Sergey Ivanov, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ruslan Kabirov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Rishat Khabipov, Chairman of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shamil Ageev took part in the meeting.