Ankara hosts GCEL’s HumaWealth Awareness event with the participation of Turkey’s leading executives from the finance, insurance and technology companies. H.E. Mr. Mehmet ?im?ek, Turkey’s Minister of Finance, welcomed GCEL’s important initiative, explaining that the HumaWealth Program will spark global economic growth through innovation. Turkey, as the rest of the world, will benefit from the extensive reach of the Program, expanding global trade by USD 1.2 trillion and supporting nearly 100 million new jobs around the world.
Ankara, Turkey. December 15, 2011 — Speaking to public officials and leading executives from Turkey’s finance, insurance and technology companies in the nation’s capital, Turkey’s Minister of Finance, H.E. Mehmet ?im?ek, said that GCEL’s HumaWealth Program “will help serve and remind policy makers that there are better ways to enhance job prospects and expand trade.” He welcomed “a very important initiative, because we need to continuously focus on how to do things better.” HumaWealth, he noted, is an ambitious initiative to spark global economic growth through innovation. Stressing the ambitious reach of the Program, he noted its potential to expand global trade by USD 1.2 trillion and support nearly 100 million new jobs around the world.
H.E. Mr. ?im?ek was the keynote speaker at the HumaWealth Awareness event held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Ankara. Aimed at presenting GCEL’s global initiative to Turkey’s public officials and executives from leading Turkish companies, the event was co-convened by many of Turkey’s leading government entities and business groups: Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Turkey and the Participation Banks Association of Turkey (TKBB). The League of Arab States and the Union of Arab Banks were also co-conveners. GCEL’s HumaWealth Program will deploy new bold Soft Infrastructure in Turkey and around the world, delivering the tools and the road map to create a new era of trade efficiency, make firms more competitive, and trigger sustained economic growth. The resulting digital trade platform will be made available to every business in Turkey—and the world—at no cost.
Leading a group of distinguished industry experts who discussed the HumaWealth Program, GCEL Co-Chairman, Capt. Samuel Salloum, emphasized that the Program will help Turkey realize its economic ambitions by rebalancing trade throughout the Euro-Med region in a highly constructive way. “Turkey is already working hard to expand trade with the Middle East and Africa,” he noted. “HumaWealth provides the tangible plan to grow buying power in the very markets Turkey prizes for the future.”
Dr. Turalay Kenç, Deputy Governor of Turkey’s Central Bank, described the HumaWealth Program as a rare global initiative because it boosts three key pillars of economy all at once. It will help Turkey produce more with less, boosting output. It will make Turkey’s businesses more competitive, especially its SMEs. And it will make Turkey’s banking sector stronger while helping credit flow faster and at better terms. “Today, there has never been a better time to unleash the huge productivity gains that the digital economy can supply to Turkey, the region and the world as well,” he said.
Dr. Mark Drabenstott, GCEL’s Secretary General, explained that HumaWealth will empower the digital economy, unleashing a wave of economic and business benefits for Turkey. Triggering a quantum leap in trade efficiency, the digital trade platform will slash Turkey’s cost of trade nearly USD 7.6 billion a year. It will help businesses cut their unit operating costs up to 15%, even more for SMEs. And it will fuel next generation e-commerce, helping businesses market their products to buyers around the world.
A dominant theme at the event was how HumaWealth can help Turkey realize one of it is overriding economic ambitions—using innovation to drive its economic transformation into new technologies and high-value services. The Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks, Wissam Fattouh, summed up the views of many attending the event: “Our region, indeed our world, needs a powerful new wave of sustained economic growth. That is why UAB is supporting GCEL’s HumaWealth Program. It provides a bold and visionary path to power such growth.”
The Ankara HumaWealth Awareness event followed GCEL’s highly successful Awareness Campaign in Asia. The event was the first in the Middle East & Africa Region but, as part of its commitment to equal opportunity, GCEL is now planning to hold similar events in Morocco, Jordan, and other countries in the region before moving its global campaign to the Americas and Europe.
About GCEL
The Global Coalition for Efficient Logistics (GCEL) is a nonprofit public/private partnership based in Switzerland that brings together governments and the private sector to deliver a tangible program achieving sustainable global economic growth. GCEL’s public sector members and supporters include more than 150 governments throughout the world, 21 NGOs, and leading finance, technology and insurance firms with a collective workforce of 2.7 million that service roughly 60% of global GDP.
In 18 months, GCEL’s HumaWealth Program will deploy around the world Soft Infrastructure with three key elements: an open-source technology platform, a global network of trusted companies, and a deployment program that provides the tools, free of cost to the end users, to decrease the cost of the trade (landed import and export costs), thereby expanding trade, supporting new jobs, and fostering sustained economic growth.
G20 Member, Turkey, Embraces GCEL’s HumaWealth Program to Power Trade and Sustain Economic Growth
Contact :
Thomas Wedgwood
GCEL
7 rue de Marche
Geneva, Switzerland 1204
+961 1 866790
[email protected]
http://www.gcel.net
