The challenges the Turkish plastics sector is facing in its business dealings with the rest of Europe were addressed at an industry summit hosted at Plast Eurasia last month.
EU-Turkey summit
On the 3rd December, the Turkish Plastic Industry Foundation (PAGEV) hosted the Istanbul Plastics Summit. The aim was to increase cooperation and alignment between PlasticsEurope and PAGEV members for a common approach to current issues faced in the EU and Turkey.
After two weeks of discussions, the Istanbul Plastic Summit Declaration was signed by Yavuz Eroglu, the President of PAGEV, and Karl-H. Foerster, the Executive Director of PlasticsEurope, with the presence of Ibrahim Kilicaslan, General Manager for Turkish Republic Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology. This common declaration addresses the challenges of the European and Turkish plastics industries and sets new strategies to deal with these challenges. Among them, the unemployment, the costs of energy and feedstock, the lack of investments and the need of growth were highlighted. In addition, it was agreed that more weight must be given to incentives on recycling, social awareness campaigns and training efforts, especially in order to engage the young population in the plastic industry. This declaration is expected to steer the plastics industry and make an example for other industries.