İKMİB Meets Young Chemists on 19 May

The Board of Directors of the Istanbul Chemical Substances and Products Exporters Association (İKMİB), the trade association of Turkey's chemical sector – a locomotive sector of the economy – held a video conference with chemistry engineering and chemistry students from universities. Young chemists attending the Chemistry Sector Youth Meeting had the opportunity to voice their expectations, desires and suggestions regarding the sector and the business world. The "Chemistry Sector Youth Meeting," organized online by İKMİB on 19 May as part of Atatürk Commemoration Youth and Sports Day, was held with the participation of İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister, İKMİB Board Vice Chairman Doğu Kaya, İKMİB Board Member Rıza Bozoklar, academics, and over 100 young chemists from various universities. The video conference event, organized to bring the chemistry sector together with young people in early stages, to initiate university-industry cooperation in its early phases, and to contribute to increased collaboration efforts, addressed youth expectations and suggestions, and evaluated university-industry cooperation opportunities.

Adil Pelister: "Our chemistry sector is an interdisciplinary sector touching 27 other sectors."

İKMİB Board Chairman Adil Pelister, expressing his pleasure at meeting with young people on the occasion of 19 May Atatürk Commemoration Youth and Sports Day, said: "It is encouraging to be with you. We are here to support you in every way. We are stronger with young people. You are very fortunate to have chosen chemistry. Our chemistry sector is an interdisciplinary sector touching 27 other sectors. Whether you look at automotive, paints and coatings, agriculture, healthcare, cosmetics, plastics, pharmaceuticals or rubber – whichever sector you look at, chemistry is always there. Therefore, I want you to know that you are very fortunate to have chosen such a profession."

"Develop yourselves, look forward without losing heart"

Sharing tips that could be useful to students in their future professional careers, Pelister advised them to take advantage of the opportunities brought by digital transformation in the current period, to participate in conferences, seminars and various development events as much as possible, to build a network, and emphasized the necessity of learning foreign languages, particularly English, and a second language. Highlighting the importance of working together, Pelister said: "Working together and collaborating is important for long-term goals. When you work together, you will see that you can accomplish better things more easily. There will be periods of fatigue and setbacks in life, but we will not lose heart and we will look forward."

"The chemistry sector is Turkey's second largest exporting sector"

Providing information about the chemistry sector in the world and Turkey, Pelister stated that approximately 330,000 people are employed in the sector in our country. Noting that the chemistry sector ranked as the second largest exporting sector in 2019 with USD 20.6 billion in exports, Pelister said: "However, this year in April, due to the negative effects of the pandemic and the slowdown in automotive exports, the chemistry sector became Turkey's largest sector with USD 1.28 billion in exports. Looking at the size of Turkey's chemistry sector, we have approximately USD 72 billion in chemistry sector volume. When comparing imports and exports of our chemistry sector, in 2019 our sector had approximately USD 52 billion in foreign trade deficit. The largest source of this deficit comes from the import of mineral fuels, including oil and its derivatives. We spend our USD 20 billion natural gas imports on domestic consumption for electricity generation and heating. In chemical imports, we also have 70 percent dependency on foreign sources. We need to reduce this dependency by producing high value-added products."

"We want to establish a 'Youth Committee' within İKMİB"

Emphasizing that research and development, innovation and design, qualified and high value-added production, and environmentally conscious production contributing to the circular economy need to be considered for the chemistry sector to advance further, Pelister said: "Regarding high value-added production and university-industry cooperation, as İKMİB we organize an R&D Project Market competition related to 5 of our sub-sectors every year. We are waiting for your applications to this competition. As İKMİB, we plan to establish a Chemistry Technology Centre that will have accredited laboratories for the needs of our 16 sub-sectors, a digital library, areas where start-ups can be developed, and conference halls. We have begun work on this matter and our discussions continue with both our universities and relevant NGOs. As İKMİB, we will continue to support our young people who are the guarantee of our future. In this context, to ensure the continuation and sustainability of our cooperation, we want to establish a 'Youth Committee' within İKMİB. We are looking forward to your contributions."