Iskenderun Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Levent Hakkı Yılmaz, along with the board members, met with press members working in Iskenderun at a breakfast program. The program, which was held at Divan Restaurant; İTSO President Yılmaz, who provided information about the economic situation of the region, the difficulties experienced by SMEs, and the ongoing commercial relations with Syria, stated that they carried out important works in the region after the earthquake and said, “Our industry and small businesses suffered serious damage after the earthquake. Especially in the city center, many workplaces operating under the collapsed buildings had to suspend their activities. We also made great efforts to ensure that more companies benefit from KOSGEB’s support during this process. We brought KOSGEB from Antakya to İskenderun and ensured that container offices were established. In this way, we brought hundreds of companies together with support.”

Yılmaz also touched on the border trade with Syria and emphasized that trade continues even though it is not on the agenda and said, “An average of 500 trucks enter the Cilvegözü Border Gate daily. 500 vehicles bring goods to Syria every day carries, and the same number of vehicles return. There is a total movement of 1,000 vehicles. However, these issues are no longer covered in the press. We have not seen any news about Syria for the last 2-2.5 months. However, trade there is still continuing.”