Turkish Airlines (THY) Chairman İlker Aycı has been elected as the first chair of the Service Exporters' Association.
The association brings companies exporting in service areas such as software, tourism, overseas contracting, freight and passenger transport, TV series-film, health and consultancy under one roof.
It said in a statement said that the General Assembly of the association was held recently with 168 out of its 221 member companies in attendance.
They participated in the election held at the Foreign Trade Complex. THY Chairman İlker Aycı became its first chair with 153 votes. Chairman of Özak Global Holding and Aktay Hotel, Ahmet Akbalık was elected the vice chairman.
Meanwhile, the board of directors of the new association is made up of THY, Aktay Hotel, Netlog Logistics, Netaş Telecommunication, Medipolitan Health and Education Services, Med Production Television and Filmmaking, TAV Istanbul Terminal Operations, Airport Ground Services, Kazova Yapı İnşaat Sanayi ve Dış Ticaret, Istanbul Aydın University, and Ortech Marine.
Speaking after the election, the newly elected Chairman Aycı said: "It is time for business, not talk. We will solve the problems in the sector working side by side with Ankara. The association will form a joint strategy document."
He added that they will push for more exports and stop the rise in foreign exchange. "For this, we will be in all markets as service exporters," Aycı added.
The new vice chairman, Ahmet Akbalık said they have been working to establish the association for 10 years before they finally succeeded. "We will work together with the other sectors to set the bar higher," Akbalık said.
Speaking at the opening of the General Assembly, Turkey Exporters' Assembly (TİM) Chairman Mehmet Büyükekşi noted that there are great opportunities for Turkey in service exports.
"New management, new opportunities and new markets will carry Turkey's service sector even further," he said.
Turkey's rapidly growing services sectors' annual exports reached up to $40 billion last year. It targets more than $150 billion in exports by 2023.
Globally commodity trade has hit $18 trillion while the size of the services trade across the world is around $5 trillion.