BTSO Rewarded The Heroes Of The Economy

The awards of “Contributors to the Economy – 2014” were granted by the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

The award ceremony was held at the Merinos Atatürk Congress and Cultural Center with the participation of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and ministers along with 18 mayors of metropolitan cities, representatives of the non-governmental organizations and the Bursa business community.

74 awards in 8 different categories were granted to the top 10 income tax and corporate tax paying persons and institutions, top 10 companies having the highest amount of exports and the most successful SMEs. The “Leaders of the Sector”, the “Leaders of the Transformation”, the “Inventor of Bursa” and “Innovation” were the categories to be awarded for the first time.

Muharrem Yılmaz in the category of “Income Tax”, Tofaş in the categories of “Corporate Tax” and “Innovation” and Oyak Renault in the category of “Export” were awarded. Durmazlar AŞ and Coşkunöz Holding were granted the award of “Leaders of the Transformation” and Evren Yurttaş was selected the “Inventor of Bursa”. 12 companies were granted the awards of “Most Successful SMEs” and 20 companies were granted the awards of “The Firsts of the Sector”. 

Mr. İbrahim Burkay, President of the Board of Directors of BTSO, said that Bursa had a better performance compared to the average of Turkey, EU and the world during the time of difficulties that the global economies faced. Mr. Burkay declared that the unemployment rate in Bursa was 6,6 % in 2013 whereas the unemployment rate in Turkey was 9,7 % in the mentioned year. Mr. Burkay added that the unit kg. price of many products exported in several sectors mainly the automotive, textile and food is above the average of Turkey which is encouraging in terms of value-added manufacturing.

Mr. Burkay declared that in addition to the automotive, machinery and textile sectors, space, aviation and defense and rail systems are the new target sectors of Bursa which will enable the city to become one of the leading cities such as Stuttgart, Paris, London, New York and San Francisco in design and branding with the manufacturing model based on R&D and innovation and centers of excellence.

Mr. Burkay added that 9 sectorial transformation programs declared by the Prime Minister are the focal points of the activities of the BTSO that is ready to be a pioneer in implementation of the action plans.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said that Bursa competes in all areas including manufacturing, industry and export and that the BTSO conducts significant activities in new sectors such as space, aviation and defense.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that Bursa reflects the economy and is an important center with its humanitarian, historical and natural wealth which will unite with İstanbul and Ankara with the fast train and highway projects. Prime Minister Davutoğlu declared that Bursa hosts 23 R&D centers out of 165 R&D centers of Turkey and 19 of them are in the automotive sector and R&D is the only factor which will create a difference. Prime Minister Davutoğlu added that the government is ready to offer additional incentives to the industry to foster R&D and innovation.