Number: 2009/2
| Business Opportunity for 3 thousand people from 5 companies in the Aegean Free Zone |
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Gates Corporation, a US based company in the automotive supply industry, is to launch its plant in ESBAS. The total amount of investment in the Aegean Free Zone is expected to exceed €25.5 million this year.
Companies keep up the investments despite the global financial turmoil. One of the world’s leading companies in the automotive supply industry, Gates decided to invest in the Aegean Free Zone. Besides Gates, which is to offer an employment opportunity for 1500 people, four other companies are to invest in the Aegean Free Zone this year. While the total amount of investment in 2009 in the Zone is expected to exceed €25 million, 3,000 people will be offered new employment opportunities.
Manufacture To Launch In 2010
ESBAS President Kaya Tuncer told that American giant in the automotive supply industry Gates decided to invest in the Aegean Free Zone despite the global financial turmoil which caused the investments to come to a rest, and that 3 thousand people would be employed in the Zone whereas most companies are laying off employees.
 Pointing out that Gates, after having looked into the investment opportunities in Bursa and Corlu, settled on the Aegean Free Zone for investment, Tuncer noted that the company will be manufacturing belts, hoses and hydraulics for the automotive sector. Tuncer explained that Gates chose Turkey for its proximity to many markets and manufacturing fields and said, “They will build their facilities on a 25,000 m² area and will soon start the construction of the plant. They will launch manufacturing in 2010.
Employment To Boost
Expressing that, already an operational company in the Aegean Free Zone, Kapadokya Textile decided to make further investments in the Zone, Tuncer said, “The company will establish a new plant on an area of 22,000 m², which will provide employment for nearly 200 people. Italy based Eldor company is also planning on new investments.
Approximately 600 people are employed in Eldor. This number will be 1000 with this new investment. Keller-Vandacý and Baykal Mobilya will also invest. Currently 14,500 are employed in the Zone. We expect this number to exceed 20,000 with the investments made in the last two years.” |
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ABFT awards ESBAS Chairman of the Board, Kaya TUNCER |
 ESBAS Chairman of the Board, Kaya TUNCER received an award on occasion of the 5th anniversary of American Business Forum in Turkey-ABFT for his contribution to Turkish and American companies. ABFT Chairman of the Board Galip Sukaya presented Tuncer’s award during the event, which also welcomed US Ambassador James Jeffrey.
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| ESBAS Becomes Member of EU AeroPortal Project, together with TUBITAK and Eskisehir Chamber of Industry-ESO |
 Formerly separate projects providing technical and financial support for R&D and innovation projects of the SMEs of the aerospace sector in European Union member countries, AeroSME ( www.aerosme.com) and SCRATCH ( www.aero-scratch.net) projects have been united under a single project called AeroPortal project in the past year.
Speaking in 1st Izmir Global Aerospace Conference held in ESBAS with cooperation of EGEV (Aegean Foundation for Economic Development) and IZKA (Izmir Development Agency) last November, SCRATCH Project Director Jean-Luis Bonafe had explained that the SCRATCH and AeroPortal projects would be united under a single project, and invited ESBAS to be a member of AeroPortal.
As a result of the studies conducted under the roof of TUBITAK, Eskisehir Chamber of Industry, TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) and ESBAS have become members of the EU AeroPortal project. An ESBAS initiative, Space Camp Turkey (www.spacecampturkey.com), which has been operating since 2000, has played a great role in being granted this membership.
AeroPortal memberships of ESBAS, TUBITAK and Eskisehir Chamber of Industry are also attached great importance with regard to the advantages of the EU funds, as per 7th Framework Programme, for the Turkish SMEs of the aerospace sector which will be a part of “Izmir Aerospace Cluster” planned to be established with the efforts of ESBAS and EGEV and with the contribution of IZKA.
 Turkey’s AeroPortal memberships can be said to have paved the way for the opportunity to make use of the EU 7th Framework Programme, the next call for which will be launched in July 2009 with the aim of supporting innovation and R&D projects of aerospace companies.
We are of the opinion that Turkey’s membership with ESBAS, TUBITAK and Eskisehir Chamber of Industry in the AeroPortal project, which also welcomes various aerospace clusters from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain, will contribute to the development of Turkish SMEs in the aerospace sector.
Also receiving support from the Aegean Free Zone user companies in the aerospace sector such as Lisi from France ( www.lisi-aerospace.com), PFW from Germany ( www.pfw-hs.com), Eldor from Italy ( www.eldor.com), and Fokker Elmo from Netherlands, ESBAS’ AeroPortal membership is expected to play an important role in bringing new aerospace companies to the Aegean Free Zone. |
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| 2nd SCIENCE FAIR HELD IN ESBAS CHILD CARE CENTER |
 Second Science Fair, organized by the teachers and students of 5-6 years of age in ESBAS Child Care Center, has been held on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 with the participation of students, teachers, parents and other visitors. The children demonstrated and explained their experiments and projects, which they have prepared individually or in groups, for the visitors. Orange Test, flavor test and colored celery stalk were among the most attractive experiments and projects of the fair.
Prepared in cooperation with the trainers of Space Camp Turkey, which is located in the Aegean Free Zone and is one of the four space camps in the world, the robot project also attracted great attention in the fair. The students made a simple demonstration of how hot-air balloons and rockets fly.
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| Chinese Delegations Visit ESBAS |
 Representatives from Huangshi Donbei, the largest electrical equipment manufacturing company of People’s Republic of China, have visited Maggie Qi and ESBAS. Currently marketing compressors for the refrigerators manufactured by Vestel, the company is considering to penetrate into the European market through shifting its investment into the Aegean Free Zone.
Planning to start operating in the Aegean Free Zone by leasing a storage area of 2000m² at first stage, the company is considering to lease a parcel soon afterwards and start manufacturing in a closed area of 15-20,000 m². The company has come to a decision on starting its trade and investment activities in the Aegean Free Zone after over a year of researching for investment opportunities and advantages in Turkey.
 Furthermore, a business delegation consisting of 10 people from Chinese city of Luohu, have visited the Aegean Free Zone. Expressing their compliments on the Zone, the delegation told that they would like to re-visit the zone within a longer program soon. |
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