Mr. İsmet VEZİROĞLU, Sales Manager of Tüvrheinland: Our goal as Tüvrheinland is to provide the best service for production thereby providing the best service for industry in the region.

How do the economical and political developments taking place in Turkey are reflected to industry and production? How do you evaluate the experienced occurrences? Which measures have you taken/are you taking as a company? Do you have a plan B?
We are a country agenda of which can change quickly due to the geography we are located in. Our location as a bridge between eastern and western countries causes us to be affected by activities taking place in both poles. Today, developments in the Middle East and the effects thereof to our country may constitute our agenda while the economic and/or political developments in Europe may be in our agenda tomorrow. This situation will continue to exist tomorrow as it exists today. The important point, in terms of our country, at this moment is to create an economic and political structure which is affected least from the external developments and minimize our loss in potential developments accordingly. Turkey currently is passing through a delicate process and experiencing hard time both in economic and political fields due to the effect of this process. Economics and politics can be regarded as right and left feet of a country. These two factors cannot be considered separately for a country trying to ensure balance and a country must get its both feet on the ground.
Many political issues we talk about are based on economics while many economic issues we talk about are based on politics today. As such, it will not be a right approach for us to examine the causes of positive and negative developments reflecting to industry and production only economically or politically. The way for healthy growth will be paved when both feet are robust and in balance.
To expect the conclusion of political developments for improvement of our current situation and only act as an observer as investors will not make a contribution to our company and the economy but on the contrary it will make the current situation worse. The environment of confidence may take be created again only with unconditional trust of companies and investors in themselves and their country. Production must not be foreign-dependent but on the contrary it should be based on core values, potentials and investments. Increase in production will enable the development of industry and increase the country’s power in parallel thereby making your hand strong also in the political field.
We, as TüvRheinland, always trust especially our team, our investments and our works. This is why we are able to continue our activities since over 140 years in approximately 70 countries being independent of local economic and political developments. We, as an inspection, documentation and certification body, always make our investments on information and technology. Our goal is to provide the best service for production thereby providing the best service for industry in the geography we operate. We have enough experience to that effect and we are aware of our responsibility.
Do exchange rate-based developments affect the domestic market or export more?
Exchange rate system applied in Turkey affects both markets due to the developments experienced. However, the effects of foreign exchange based developments are seen more rapidly in the domestic market. The most important reason for this is that our country has high economic sensitivity. Investors’ losing confidence in themselves especially in the domestic market has a negative impact on our economy.
Hence, firstly a virtual wind blows in the market at the beginning followed by a real negative wind. The main problem is our lack of a transparent economy and development plan. The works aimed to correct this situation unfortunately does not provide results in the longterm. The prolongation of the process and recession in the domestic market limits our scope of action in the same proportion in foreign markets.
One of the main problems in our country is following a foreign-dependent economic policy. As a result of this change in exchange rates affect daily life of people faster. When we compare the products we import with the products we export there are significant differences in terms of quality and quantity. We can close the gap between them only by steps to be taken in the economic field and by production of hightech products in the field of industrialization. Adopting this consciousness will ensure us to have a more sustainable policy in both domestic and foreign markets in the long term.
What is the effect of increase in exchange rates on the costs and therefore on profitability?
Although it is not the right to make generalization on this issue, it would not be wrong to say that the costs will increase at the first phase by the effect of our foreign-dependent market works. Importance of mechanization cannot be denied in our day’s industry in which it is a fact that manufacturers can survive only by mass production. However, knowing that almost all of the machines which are the cornerstones our producers and therefore our factories are imported will shed light in searching the fundamental issue of the problem. Briefly we can say that our following a foreign-dependent policy affects our costs significantly in case of increase in foreign currency rates. I believe that we can obtain healthier results in the long term for managing the processes and minimizing our costs by searching the reason of the problem instead of looking for ways in numerically low items.
How do you evaluate the nuclear agreement made with Iran? How important is Iran as a market for your sector?
I believe that the potential in Iran is much larger than estimated. It is not easy to predict what kinds of dynamics will change when a country economy of which is closed to the world takes an active role in the market. The success of implementation of the agreements made and process management of the parties will also change the balance in the market. As is known, Tehran agreed to reduce the number of centrifuges to be used in uranium enrichment by two-thirds with an agreement. On the other hand sanctions in the areas of oil, natural gas, finance, aviation and maritime transport will be lifted in the country and Iran will receive its billions of dollars of assets abroad. Energy needs and particularly the needs of sustainable energy sources of a developing country will also increase at the same rate.
As TüvRheinland, we are making testing and certification work son solar energy and we have increased our investments in this area in recent years. We believe that thermal and hydroelectric power plants which have supported the sector until today are out of date in a world with ever-increasing energy demand. Wind energy thought as a first alternative has also begun to fill its capacity in our country. There are very many wind power plant areas installation permission of which have been taken but which do not operate due to different reasons in Turkey. Turkey unfortunately has not taken a step on solar energy which is in the second place and which is the most sustainable resource. Although serious works have been done on this field until present, the fruits of it have not been collected yet. I would like to mention that with the awareness of not reaching even 1% of the energy capacity we can produce, we inevitably have to be engaged with solar energy in the coming period in order to catch the developed countries and meet our energy requirements. We see that global country policies also support this. Turkey has an advantageous position because it has begun to invest early and made progress in sustainable energy resources that whet the appetite of our neighbors in the long term.
Would you like to add anything?
We give great importance to sustainability in all areas as a company. We make our actions with our corporate identity independent from people and economic developments and relying on our experience and investments. We try to act always by keeping the value of our brand in the forefront. Fluctuations experienced in our day of course also affect us. The important issue at this point is to have the power for keeping the process at a manageable level. One must have the long-term policies and experience to obtain this power.
We can take stronger steps today based on our confidence taken from our past and we can move to a more hopeful future