Mustafa Gültepe, Vice President of İHKİB, stated that the ready-to-wear sector closed the first quarter of 2017 with a loss of 5.8 percent in exports and said, "On the other hand, there are export increases in the US, Iraq and Russia markets that make us smile. Despite all the negativities, we want to complete 2017 with a figure above 17 billion dollars."

 Emphasizing that the world is experiencing a major political earthquake, MGV President Akkan Suver said, "A new process has started for the EU.  The wave of authoritarianism is spreading around the world. Solutions need to be found to prevent the tensions from opening the door to World War 3."

 The 20th Eurasian Economic Summit to be organized by the Marmara Group Foundation (MGV) this year will focus on the wave of authoritarianism sweeping the world and the future of the European Union.

 The summit, which will be held between April 4-6, 2017 with the support of Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association (IHKIB), will be attended by more than 100 politicians and thought leaders, including 4 presidents from 44 countries.  

 MGV Foundation President Akkan Suver said at the press conference that the Eurasian Economic Summit is an organization with high international prestige that is accepted in a wide geography from Central Asia to Europe. Explaining that the main title of this year's summit is "Humanity at a crossroads", Suver emphasized that the future of the world and Europe will be scrutinized on the axis of increasing authoritarianism trends and the rise of nationalist populist politics.

 President of Albania Bujar Nishani, President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic and President of TRNC Mustafa Akıncı will attend the summit, Suver said, adding that the famous thinker Edward De Bono will be the guest of honor:

 We Must Question Whether the World Will Go to a Third Great War

 "The world is experiencing a major political earthquake. The democratization process, which Samuel Huntington called the third wave, seems to have ended. Instead, a wave of reverse authoritarianism is sweeping the world. Populist, xenophobic and nationalist movements and parties are experiencing an explosion of votes. Following Donald Trump's success, we regret to see that a similar political approach is gaining more and more supporters in Europe. Although Geert Wilders failed to achieve the victory he wanted in the elections in the Netherlands on March 15, the performance of racist parties in the upcoming elections in France, Germany and Austria worries us all for the future of democratic Europe. In the light of growing nationalism, we have to ask ourselves whether Europe and the world are heading for a third major war.

 Let's face it, a new process has begun for the EU. Where will a Union without the UK take Europe? Would there be new ruptures? Would the institutional structure of the EU change? We will also look at them from the economic point of view, from the energy point of view and from the migration point of view.

 We will discuss the painful events, forced migration and terrorism with statesmen, politicians, academics and religious leaders under the title 'The Contribution of Religions to Peace in an Environment of Violence and Terror'."

 Mustafa Gültepe: Loss of 5.8 percent in the first three months declined to 3 percent in March

 Mustafa Gültepe, Vice President of Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association (IHKIB), said that the Eurasian Economic Summit is an organization that has proven its worth in the international arena.

 Stating that the Eurasian Economic Summit opened doors of opportunity for the sector in search of alternative markets to the EU, Gültepe continued his words as follows  "Turkey is the world's 7th largest ready-to-wear and apparel supplier. We are one of the brand countries in ready-to-wear with our production infrastructure, know-how and designs. We sell products to almost every country in the world and work as Turkey's promotional face. We provide approximately 15 billion dollars of net foreign currency inflow to our country every year. Ready-to-wear exports, which broke an all-time record of 18.7 billion dollars in 2014, closed the last two years at 17 billion dollars. European buyers avoided coming to our country due to the unfavorable developments. We traveled from country to country with our suitcases in our hands. But despite all our efforts, we unfortunately started 2017 in the negative.

 26 percent increase in the US, 15 percent in Iraq, 85 percent in Russia

 When we look at the figures, we see that our ready-to-wear exports were 3.8 billion dollars between January 1 and March 27, 2017, with a 5.8 percent decrease compared to the same period of the previous year. On the other hand, we witnessed that the decline decreased to 3 percent in March. Between March 1-27, our exports amounted to 1.3 billion dollars. Among the top 10 markets, the highest increase in March was 26.1 percent in the US market. In the first three months of the year, our exports to this country increased by 7.7 percent compared to the same period last year. In the said period, the highest increase among the top 10 markets was in Iraq with 15 percent. We exported 180 million dollars to Iraq in three months. In Russia, where we suffered great losses due to political tensions in 2016, we started to smile again. We exported 45 million dollars with an increase of 85 percent. In the first three months, we achieved a record increase of 754 percent in Hungary and sold 36 million dollars. These figures strengthen our hopes for exports of more than 17 billion dollars in 2017."

 Cigdem Akin Fashion has a Unifying Spirit

 Fashion designer Çiğdem Akın, who will present the "Something Stupid" collection choreographed by Ferhan Aral at the gala night of the Eurasian Economic Summit, drew attention to the unifying spirit of fashion in the changing new world order. Akın stated that fashion is an effective form of expression in expressing Anatolian culture in the international arena.

 The 20th Eurasian Economic Summit will also be represented by the European Parliament, the United Nations, the Islamic Conference, the Vienna Economic Forum, the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, the Slavyani Foundation of Bulgaria and the Life Learning Academy of Slovenia.