The third TUMEXPO General Trade Fair, along with the ALLINTECH Summit and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) taking place simultaneously, will host international speakers and attendants between Oct. 22 and Oct. 25 at the Istanbul Conference Center (ICC) in Harbiye, Istanbul. The aim of the fair is mainly to fuel trade both on international and national scales, and to particularly help the Turkish SMEs with solving some of its fundamental problems in order for them to invest and grow in a healthy way.

At the official opening on Oct. 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, World Bank deputy Bertrand Badre, President of Islamic Development Bank Ahmad Mohammad Ali and many other important guests will attend the fair, along with 1,500 participants from 28 countries and 40,000 visitors from Turkey. Around 300 firms, each operating in one of the main eight sectors, are expected to attend the three-day event.

The president of TÜMSİAD (All Industrialists and Businessmen Association), Yaşar Doğan, started his speech at the press meeting, which took place yesterday at the ICC, giving information about TÜMSİAD, which sponsors the TUMEXPO fair. Doğan said that the main purpose of TÜMSİAD is to help SMEs and to support them through these kinds of events, which help them develop more business relations and solve some of their structural problems such as a lack of knowledge about marketing and experience in their sector, as well as access to raw materials. Furthermore, Doğan said the overall purpose of the fair is bringing sellers and buyers, exporters and importers together, adding that this will also be very beneficial for the SMEs, which consist of 97 percent of all businesses in Turkey. Moreover, the General Secretary of TUMSİAD, Osman Kurtlar Kapıcıoğlu, stressed that this fair and particularly the ALLINTECH Summit, will also help the Turkish firm to realize its potential in international trade by enhancing its capabilities of technological production in line with the efforts previously put through technoparks established in many Turkish provinces and the collaboration of 10 Turkish universities to contribute to technical knowledge in the industries. Kapıcıoğlu and Doğan also said that the collaboration among both domestic and foreign firms is essential to be more successful in the sectors firms operate in.