CUSTOMS AND FOREIGN TRADE AGENDA

More than 300 local and foreign customs and foreign trade executives came together at the meeting organized by ÜNSPED Customs Consultancy and Logistics Services Inc. (UGM) in Istanbul on 06.11.2024 with the theme “Agenda of Customs and Foreign Trade”. The meeting started with a talk by Turkish Historian, Academician, and Author Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı on the 101st anniversary of the Republic of Turkey and its achievements and the future of our Republic from yesterday to today. Current developments in the Turkish and World economy and foreign trade, new practices, sectoral problems and expectations were evaluated comprehensively with the participation of academicians, customs brokers and sector representatives who are experts in their fields.

Mr. Haluk ÜNDEĞER, Founding President of UGM, stated in his opening speech that they aim to provide feedback to their business stakeholders with the most up-to-date developments through these meetings and that they see this as one of the most important parts of their business.

UGM Company Shareholder Yusuf Bulut ÖZTÜRK emphasized the importance of succeeding together and stated that they are proud to contribute to the country's economy and development together with all business stakeholders.

OUR GOAL CHANGING THE PARADIGM IN CUSTOMS CLEARANCE

Rıza Mehmet KORKMAZ, General Manager of UGM, made the following remarks in his presentation of the company's activities at the meeting:

“We hold these meetings to receive feedback from you. This way, we can re-engineer our own work. We determine the measures and actions we need to take with your suggestions. In our country, foreign trade and customs procedures take place in a very dynamic structure. Within this framework, many legal regulations are published. We share this information with you in the fastest and most accurate manner. In this context; As of 2024, we have published 842 circulars containing information on customs and foreign trade transactions.

With our 4 new projects that will support our country's economy in our on-site R&D Center (Smart Export, Smart circulars, virtual customs brokerage, law in foreign trade, etc.). Ünsped is not only active in Turkey, but also in the world. We are ready to provide services in the field of customs and foreign trade in 13 European countries with Custom Support Group and in 80 countries through our business partner AEB, and now in the field of international foreign trade, customs and logistics law in more than 100 countries of the world with First Law International (FLI). We place special emphasis on providing the qualified manpower needed by the sector. To train the customs and foreign trade experts needed by our sector, we are conducting a collaborative, applied training program with Istanbul University. In this context, we concluded 9 programs with around 800 participants. We guaranteed jobs for 20% of the participants and met the demands.

We have also developed a green customs clearance concept for the Green Trade, which is another leg of the twin transformation. We are carrying out important studies on CBAM. We have prepared carbon footprint calculation reports.

With our Ünsped Global Logistics company, we offer you solutions in domestic and international transportation in 194 countries around the world.As a result of all these efforts, our corporate rating rose to 9.53.

Our goals are absolute customer satisfaction, sustainable growth, digital customs clearance and further integration, effective risk management, green customs clearance, effective service abroad, becoming a global brand, developing new business models and changing the paradigm in customs clearance.”

In addition, Mr. KORKMAZ shared with the guests his information and predictions on World and Turkish trade. In this context;

He stated that the world will grow less in the coming days, that world trade will grow less than projected, that the World Trade Organization forecasts 2.7 growth for global trade for 2024, that the IMF's forecast is around 3.1, that the growth forecast for 2025 will be around 3%, on the other hand, especially after the election in the US, with Trump coming to office, trade wars with China may start again, with high new customs duties to be imposed, world trade may grow less than the projected figure of 3%.

As for the situation in Turkey, he said that when we look at foreign trade data, there was a significant decline in imports, a 7.2% decline as of the first 10 months, while exports increased by 3.2%, which positively reflected on closing our foreign trade deficit.

FIRST LAW INTERNATIONAL FLI IN TURKEY

First Law International (FLI) was also at the 16th Client Advisory Board meeting as a business partner of ÜNSPED.

First Law International (FLI) is a full-service, top-ranked law firm specializing in more than 35 areas of law, including construction, insurance and logistics, medical device and life sciences, real estate, automotive, competition and trade, intellectual property, industrial manufacturing, oil, gas and energy, data privacy and cybersecurity, pharmaceuticals, and tax & finance. FLI provides standardized global legal solutions in more than 100 jurisdictions around the world.

Mr. Orlando CASARES, Founder and CEO of First Law International, presented the advantages of UGM's seamless and integrated global service offering for its clients and stated the following;

“FLI is a global law firm. And one of the largest in the world. We have offices in 97 countries. We work with more than 23 thousand lawyers. The success of FLI is actually the power of the union. The organization that will enable success in Turkey is UGM at this point, so we want to simplify these relationships for all our clients. We want to have a single engagement document, a single contract, in fact, we want you, our valued customers, to bind your business with a single negotiation. In addition to legal services, we provide consultancy services on Cyber Security, Risk Mitigation, Corporate Governance, Export Controls, Data Protection thanks to our own technology.'' 

At the 16th Client Advisors Board Meeting, where valuable speakers such as Prof. Dr. Emre ALKİN, Rector of Istanbul Topkapı University, Turkish Economist and Author, Prof. Dr. Erhan ASLANOĞLU, Vice Rector of Istanbul Topkapı University and Mr. Hakan GÜLDAĞ, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Economy Newspaper. At the 16th Customer Advisors Board Meeting, where valuable speakers such as Hakan GÜLDAĞ, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Economy Newspaper, opinions and evaluations on the Agenda and Future of the World and Turkish Economy were presented.

In addition, to further develop and improve business processes with the suggestions and feedback received from business stakeholders, to receive expectations regarding the demands of the sector, and to provide services in this direction, these workshop sessions were held:

''Facilitating & Cost Reducing Customs Practices in the Supply Chain, Technical Regulations and Tareks Transactions and Sustainability in Customs and Foreign Trade''. 

The meeting ended with the closing speeches of Mr. Cenap AŞÇI, Former (63rd Government) Minister of Customs and Trade, and Mr. Remzi AKÇİN, Chairman of the Board of Directors of UGM.