Industry events
TUSAF 2015: Wheat
T
he 11th International Congress and Exhibition held by the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TFIF) on 5-8 March 2015 gathered flour industrialists, traders and suppliers, miller manufacturers, laboratory suppliers, manufacturers of bread and other bakery products and representatives of the financial sector, as well as respected academicians and experts from the public and private sector. The Congress and Exhibition was organised in Antalya Titanic Deluxe Hotel, where TFIF hosted 600 national and international delegates from 15 countries in the organisation with 35 exhibition spaces, and the main theme adopted was ‘Wheat and Health’. In his opening speech, Mr Erhan Özmen, TFIF’s Chairman, remembered our deceased colleagues who have made great efforts in the industry. In reference to International Women’s Day on 8 March, included in the congress calendar, Mr Özmen also touched on the role and importance of women in working life and expressed his wishes for more active studies, referring to the platform of a “Commission for defamatory policies for bread and their effects on the industry”. Mr Özmen explained the current status in the domestic and international markets for the season of 2013-14 as well as his expectations for the season of 2014-15 and shared his knowledge indicating that the new season would be more efficient. He stated Turkey had closed the year of 2014 with 2.184 million tonnes of exports to 109 countries and approximately US$931 million of foreign 80 | Milling and Grain
& Health
exchange inflow and thanked those who contributed. Mr Özmen also gave the good news of opening of the new head office of TFIF and invited the participants to the opening scheduled for April 2015. Erhan Özmen continued his speech and pointed out the constructive cooperation and dialog of the top four sectors of the world: “Industry-University-Public and Media”. Then he thanked all of the participants, especially Mr M. Mehdi Eker, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, on behalf of himself and the board of directors of TFIF. Mr Ali Avci, Chairman of Cey Group, referred to the importance of wheat in human nutrition, emphasised the value of the chain of wheat-industrialisation and logistics, and mentioned the investments for Samsunport under Cey Group. Mr Şahin BİLGİÇ, board member of TOBB, started his speech by appreciating TFIF’s supports for antidefamation campaigns for wheat and flour and pointed out the holiness of bread and its importance in our nutrition. Mr M Mehdi Eker, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, indicated how significant he considered the title “Wheat and Bread”, as main theme of the congress, and reminded that for 12,000 years human had been eating wheat, whose motherland and gene center is Anatolia and our land is unique with its endemic plants across the world. The Minister also emphasised the importance of wheat in human nutrition and, referring to the defamation campaigns against wheat, flour and bread,