ALİ ŞAHİN/BURSA The Automotive Meetings-Turkey Organization, which will be held for the fourth time in our country, hosted by Bursa OSB, will be held in Bursa with the participation of automotive main and sub-industry manufacturers from the world and Turkey. An introductory meeting was held for the Automotive Meetings-Turkey Organization to be held at Merinos AKKM on 8-10 November 2022 with the participation of 300 industry representatives from 38 countries. In his speech at the meeting, Bursa OSB Chairman Hüseyin Durmaz said that Automotive Meetings has gathered important companies of the automotive industry OEM, Tier1, Tier2, sub-industry, heavy vehicles and aftermarket for 8 years in Mexico, USA, Colombia, Romania, Spain and Turkey. Stating that he brought them together, he said, “With the Automotive Meetings event, we are bringing together the world’s giants, representatives of the domestic and foreign sector, once again in Bursa, the capital of the automotive industry in our country. Our event, which is held every two years and which we organized online due to the pandemic, will be held at Merinos Atatürk Congress and Culture Center on 8-10 November 2022.
“Bursa’s importance in automotive has increased”
Stating that a total of 300 sector representatives from 38 countries will attend this year’s meeting, from passenger cars to commercial vehicles and heavy vehicle groups, Durmaz said, “Among those who will attend our event, from the USA to Germany, from Slovenia to India, even from Ethiopia and Tanzania. There are also representatives of buyers from many different fields, even from Interest in this event is increasing every year. For example, while 25 countries participated in 2017, this number increased to 35 in 2019 and 38 this year. The number of participating companies increased from 260 to 300. The total number of bilateral business meetings between the participants of Automotive Meetings, an international supply chain event, is also increasing every year. According to the data of 2021, Bursa companies realize one fourth of the total exports of the Turkish automotive industry, which is at the level of 30 billion dollars. Naturally, this situation is also effective in the increase in the export of automotive industry products of our country and Bursa. As a result, it turns out that we are doing the right thing.” Bursa OIZ President Durmaz emphasized that it is unthinkable to hold this event in Turkey other than Bursa and said, “Bursa’s importance in the automotive sector has increased once again with the participation of our President, TOGG, our country’s domestic vehicle, out of the band last Saturday.”
7,000 bilateral meetings will be held
Bursa OSB Board Member Özgür Şahin emphasized that Automotive Meetings is an event, not a fair, and said, “This is an event where industry players, manufacturers and buyers come together and hold meetings. It is necessary to know the needs of the automotive industry. In our industry, you don’t sell 10, 100, a thousand pieces to a customer, you enter into a cooperation. Now, every time your customer produces a vehicle, he buys parts from you and builds his own vehicle. It is a continuous process. It is very important that such an event is held in Bursa, the automotive capital of Turkey, and that Turkey’s first OIZ hosts it. Buyers from 38 countries will come and hold meetings. After the pandemic, many of our potential customers’ Far Eastern source of supply began to seek alternatives from closer geographies. For this reason, I think that this year, very different results will emerge from these meetings. Our 154 manufacturers will participate in the event. In the event where 32 foreign and 92 Turkish companies took part, we will have guests from the purchasing side of 300 people. There will be 7,000 bilateral meetings,” he said.