Meeting with reporters in İstanbul, Dittrich said the company sees huge potential in the Turkish market and is committed to further expansion in the country. The MMI manager stated that they have plans to enter new markets, particularly in Turkey’s neighbors and other surrounding countries, via the Turkish market. “We believe that we can do much better than our current performance in Turkey. Turkish companies have had increased interest in international fairs in past years. MMI hopes to enter and expand its presence in fast-emerging markets in cooperation with Turkish firms in the years to come,” he explained.
Noting that the fairs organized by MMI, one of the 10 largest fair organizers in the world, attract around 30,000 firms from more than 100 countries every year, Dittrich said Turkey sent 80 participant companies along with 3,200 visitors to MMI fairs in 2009.
Dittrich mentioned that on Tuesday they signed a partnership deal with Turkish fair organizer firm Eko Fair and that the two are going to jointly organize a logistics fair named Logitrans in November 2011. Underlining that this is the first joint venture they are signing with a Turkish firm, Dittrich said they expect the fair will serve as a turning point for the company’s operations in Turkey.
Tolga Özkarakaş, the managing director of Agora Turizm, MMI’s official representative in Turkey, told Today’s Zaman that they expect that some 15 percent of Logitrans’ participating companies will come from abroad. Noting that they are planning to hold the fair at the İstanbul World Trade Center, Özkarakaş said they could switch to a larger fairground in the following years. Regarding expectations from the Turkish market, Özkarakaş said they expected operations would earn 2.5 million euros this year.
Along with the joint venture with Eko Fair, MMI also has a strategic partnership deal with Turkey’s Yapı-Endüstri Merkezi (YEM). YEM is going to organize the 33rd Turkeybuild, a building and construction fair, in İstanbul in May of this year. MMI is the organizer of BAU, Germany’s largest building and construction trade show. The two organizers exchange knowhow and experience during the organization of both fairs each year.
