7th Bosporus Summit kicks off in Istanbul

Organized by the International Cooperation Platform under the aegis of the Presidency, the 7th Bosporus Summit kicks off Tuesday in Istanbul with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Having already hosted roughly 7,500 businesspeople, the summit welcomes business professionals, statesmen and ministers from Turkey and around the world.

The three-day summit includes 22 panels held under the auspices of "Looking Ahead: The Next 50 Years," "Approach of the West towards Developing Countries," the "New Silk Road," "Governing Smart Cities," "Women's Empowerment for a Smart Economy," the "Future of the Sports Industry," "Renewable Energy," and the "Contribution of Art on the Economy."

The annual 7th Bosporus Summit is held under this year's theme of "Global Futures and Universal Goals." The executive members of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) came from 70 countries worldwide including the Middle East, Africa, the Turkic Republics and the Balkan countries. President Erdoğan will give the honorary commencement speech at the event. Speaking about officiators' goals at this year's summit,International Cooperation Platform founder Cengiz Özgendil said, "We will address our global future and the course of the next 50 years ahead of us. This year, our focal point will be Saudi Arabia, which recently began giving weight to investments in the private sector."

During the three-day summit, issues ranging from the defense industry to financing and the sports industry to smart technology applications will be brought to the table by experts, with B2B meetings to be held during the event.

Attended by approximately 2,500 people every year, Turkey's 7th summit will host Albanian President Bujar Nishani and Northern Cyprus President Mustafa Akıncı, providing leaders and businesspeople to discuss opportunities for cooperative advances in banking and finance, telecommunications, energy, construction, transportation and the defense industry.

Sessions will also be held to discuss Turkey's economic vision for 2023, alongside Saudi Arabia's vision for 2030 which envisages a road map for economic and developmental action. In the scope of this year's summit, a tourism agreement is expected to be signed between the Arab Tourism Organization and the Turkish-Arab Dialogue Platform.

The Bosporus Summit was first held in 2010, when 963 participants from 17 countries attended and the chambers of attending countries signed several mutual trade agreements.An estimated 1,400 people from 36 countries attended the summit the following year in 2011, when a cooperation agreement between the Environment and Urban Planning Ministries of Turkey and Jordan was signed.

The next year in 2012, an agreement worth $80 billion was signed for the Russian Elbrus Project. The 4th Bosporus Summit in 2013 resulted in the signing of agreements between Turkey, China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Algeria totaling $360 million. The 5th Bosporus Summit saw $560 million in business deals signed. Last year, a total of $720 in business deals were realized while the number of participants at the summit passed the 2,000 mark.