Year of Establishment: 1988
Founder Chairperson: Ali Mansur
Chairperson representing Türkiye: Osman Okyay
Company: Kale Havacılık San. A.Ş.
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When the Business Council was established in 1988 its objectives were to ensure mutual and balanced economic and trade cooperation, to identify areas of cooperation, to study their feasibility, to find suitable local and foreign companies for joint ventures, to create the proper conditions for such ventures, to ensure the exchange of information, to identify obstacles and work on their removal, to promote economic, cultural, political and social ties in order to create a conducive environment for mutually beneficial and strong economic ties, and to encourage joint investments in third countries. In the initial phase, the main goal was to boost Turkish exports to Britain and to attract British investments to Türkiye.
In the second half of 1990, the need arose to internationalise the economic activities of SME. Consequently, the Council focussed more on organising events and offering services that target small and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, the Council decided to expand its reach beyond London to other British industrial and trading centres; and it started to replace its traditional Joint Business Council Meetings with thematic meetings. Over time and under changing conditions and circumstances, the Council reoriented its focus of activities; its new goals became: the expansion of bilateral investments, stronger industrial and technological cooperation between Türkiye and Great Britain as well as in third countries, the intensification of cooperation in the sectors infrastructure, energy and services, joint participation in EU projects, and the organisation of promotional events in the areas of business, politics, academic-level education and with the press.
