Aegean Exporters' Associations Receives COVID-19 Safe Service Certificate

The measures taken by Aegean Exporters Associations against Covid-19 were certified by the Turkish Standards Institute's TSE COVID-19 Safe Service Certificate. Aegean Exporters Associations, which certified its compliance with the Covid-19 Hygiene, Infection Prevention and Control Guide prepared by TSE, became the first exporters association to qualify for the TSE COVID-19 Safe Service Certificate. Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator President of Aegean Exporters Associations, stated that they rapidly adapted to the new era following the Covid-19 outbreak both in terms of health measures and business models. He noted that Aegean Exporters Associations had not encountered positive cases thanks to the measures taken after the Covid-19 outbreak. Explaining that Aegean Exporters Associations supported the marketing activities of exporting companies through virtual fairs and virtual trade missions following Covid-19, Eskinazi said they conducted webinar meetings titled "The Course of Coronavirus in Our Target Markets" with the participation of trade advisors serving in 26 countries, through which Turkey realized 54 percent of its exports, and transferred their training activities to the online environment. Eskinazi stated: "During the Covid-19 process, we also elevated our health measures to the highest level. Following the cancellation of the Xiamen Natural Stone and Technologies Fair, which our Aegean Mining Exporters Association organized as Turkey's National Participation Organization in China on 30 January 2020, we became one of the first institutions to initiate the fight against Covid-19 in Turkey. From 11 March onwards, when the first case was reported in Turkey, we began measuring everyone's temperature at the entrance of the EİB Service Building. We provided masks to those entering the EİB building without masks. In our cafeteria, we arranged tables positioned according to social distancing so that one person would eat at each table. We took additional measures for fresh air entry to our building. We transferred our meetings to the online environment and designed our meeting rooms in accordance with social distancing for our physical meetings. We made Covid-19 compliant arrangements in common areas. In this context, the Turkish Standards Institute, which supervised our work, certified that the measures we took were in compliance with the Covid-19 Hygiene, Infection Prevention and Control Guide. I would like to thank our personnel who worked intensively during the process of obtaining this certificate."