PAGDER Holds 38th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting

PAGDER, which looks back on half a century of history and is one of Turkey's most experienced business organizations, held its 38th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting in Istanbul. PAGDER decided to continue under the leadership of Selçuk Gülsün in the new management term. The 38th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of PAGDER, one of Turkey's first civil society organizations, was held with the participation of TİM President İsmail GÜLLE, İKMİB President ADİL PELİSTER, PAGDER Honorary President Muammer Yüceler, PLASFED President Ömer Karadeniz and members. In the election where a single slate was entered, the management list headed by Selçuk Gülsün took over PAGDER's 2021-2024 term again. Selçuk Gülsün, who also served as Board of Directors Chairman in the previous term, stated in his speech at the general assembly that as the 37th Board of Directors, they worked on institutionalization, one of the issues to which they attached the greatest importance, and ensured multiple voices in decision-making mechanisms. "Although it became difficult to physically gather during the pandemic, we continued our advocacy activities, which are our raison d'être, and continued to voice the structural problems of our sector. We were careful to adopt a proactive rather than reactive approach and to develop solution proposals while presenting problems.

We demonstrated this most vividly in the plastic recycling sector by perceiving that there was a perception management in the news when there were yet no restrictions regarding waste import legislation, and we organized a workshop with broad participation in April 2019," he said.

Continuing his speech, Selçuk Gülsün discussed the activities that took place during the 37th Board of Directors term respectively. He shared that the first phase works of PAGDER-ASLAN Organized Industrial Zone were completed and the second phase works began, and protocols were signed first with TOY-KOOP and then with EVSİD, noting that specialized organized industrial zones play a very important role in terms of horizontal and vertical clustering of the sector.

In addition, in line with the association's mission of always supporting social responsibility projects, Selçuk Gülsün stated that the Plastics Turning into Homes project, which was launched in 2014, was also continued during this term and donations accelerated. He shared his happiness about the shelters donated within the scope of the project reaching their destinations and extended his thanks to all partners supporting the project.

In addition to this project, Gülsün stated that during the period in which they served, they quickly launched a relief campaign following the earthquakes that occurred in Elazığ and Malatya. He shared the Health Shield project, which the association launched for healthcare workers in the early days of the pandemic that we were still facing, with participants while emphasizing that social responsibility projects would be given priority in the coming term.

Gülle: "Our country's exports are moving forward with confidence towards the USD 200 billion target"

TİM President İsmail Gülle, noting that he is following the social responsibility projects carried out by PAGDER with appreciation, stated that in addition to these projects, the sector's performance also makes them happy. "As you can see, our sectors are showing great performance, and we should appreciate this situation while setting what should be the target. Our country's exports are moving forward with confidence towards the USD 200 billion export target, turning the crisis during the pandemic into an advantage, we will grow the saplings planted by our civil society organizations and our exports will make us proud by year-end," he said.

Pelister: "Export growth achieved despite the negatives caused by the pandemic is a great success"

İKMİB President Adil Pelister, recalling at the beginning of his speech that the plastic sector, which forms the widest network in the chemistry sector, is one of the most exported sub-sectors, said: "Exports under the heading of plastics and plastic products showed an increase despite the pandemic and were realized at a level of USD 6.3 billion. Despite the negative developments that occurred globally in 2020, this increase is a great success. If we can control the virus on a national and global scale, both at the sectoral level and in terms of our country's exports, hopefully this year we will achieve exports well above these figures," he said.

Yüceler: "We fought very great battles in due time"

PAGDER Honorary President Muammer Yüceler, speaking of the difficulties experienced in past years and how they faced them, said: "When we founded the association, there was no other institution in Turkey, so we operated nationwide through great struggles and carried out work especially on the difficulties experienced in the raw materials issue."

Karadeniz: "Try to be valuable in life, not successful"

PLASFED President Ömer Karadeniz, first expressing his sensitivity on the subject of NGOs, said: "Try to be valuable in life, not successful. Every person in life who takes more than they give is successful, but more importantly this: a valuable person is someone who gives more than they take, and a valuable person contributes to those around them and their country."

PAGDER's new management and supervisory board

The new management elected as a result of PAGDER's 38th Ordinary General Assembly Meeting consists of the following names: Board of Directors Regular Members; Tisan Mühendislik Plastikleri (Selçuk Gülsün), Güven El Plastik (Kenan Benliler), Boliş Plastik (Ali Alper Olgun), Tetra Polimer (Tarık Özdemir), Hür-mak Plastik Otomotiv Makine (Burç Angan), Gürlek Plastik (Oğuz Han Gürlek), Beno Plastik (Hakan Dirgeme), Nüve Plastik (Melih Ateşcan), Mete Plastik (Pelin Karadeniz), Audit Board Regular Members; Fortis Plastik (Murat İçin), Gökhan Plastik (Halil Gökhan Can), Ekin Makine (Latife Karabulut) Board of Directors Alternate Members; Pimar Plastik (Aydın Hülagü), Altan Plastik (Kemal Altan), Yapraksan Plastik (Volkan Yaprak), Semi Elektronik (Ünal Aykun), Erka Ambalaj (Selahattin Yılmaz), Borbaylar Polimer (Yavuz Çoroğlu), Enelkon Elektronik (Serhat Balta), Gurbetçiler Plastik (Ömer Köstek), Akso Polimer (Hakan Usta) Audit Board Alternate Members; Gema Polimer (Erkan Aydın), Üstün İş Makine (Murat Bektaş), Yelkenciler Mühendislik (Hakan Yelkenci)