The “Support to Armenia – Turkey Rapprochement” (SATR) project kicked off in October 2010 with an aim to contribute to normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations and establishment of a favorable environment for state-to-state dialogue and interaction. The project is jointly implemented by a Consortium of four Armenian organizations: Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia (UMBA), Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), International Center for Human Development (ICHD), and Yerevan Press Club (YPC) with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

USAID and the Consortium Members support Armenia-Turkey rapprochement by facilitating engagement between civil society groups, establishment and development of business partnerships and regional professional networks, and enhanced understanding between the people, for peace and economic integration in the region.

UMBA coordinates the business strand of the SATR program. As part of the project, UMBA is working to enhance business-to-business cooperation between Armenia and Turkey through facilitating the establishment of new bilateral partnerships and joint business platforms. The target fields of the business strand include but are not limited to: Manufacturing, Tourism, Agriculture, IT / Communication Transport, Construction / building materials, Construction Engineering.

Through joint efforts of UMBA and the Consortium, in cooperation with Turkish partners, the scope of the business strand is constantly extending to include new areas of cooperation between businesses in Armenia and Turkey. UMBA works closely with the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council (TABDC) in Turkey to promote advancement of common interests across the region through establishment of business links.

Research

UMBA supports its activities under the business strand of SATR project with relevant research. In cooperation with the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council, Eurasia Partnership Foundation and Caucasus Research Resource Center, UMBA accomplished a study of business opinion leaders in Armenia and Turkey exploring the perspectives of business cooperation between the two countries across the closed borders.

Research report   view download

Presentation of Research Report   view download

Cooperation Presentation English   view download

Direct Trade Report   view download

Organizing Business Conferences in Armenia and Turkey

Considering the networking potential of joint events, UMBA organized two business conferences in 2011. The conferences brought together interested businesspeople from both countries, allowing participants to establish new partnerships, discuss issues of mutual interest beyond the set agenda, and reach agreement for future cooperation. The conferences held in July and November 2011 resulted in the establishment of the Association of Armenian and Turkish Travel Companies, as well as the Joint Business Platform of Armenian and Turkish Businesswomen.

Conferences include plenary sessions and business-to-business meetings. Plenary sessions help to explore opportunities for cross-border business cooperation and efficient ways of removing the obstacles to business partnerships. The sessions also serve as a forum for sharing success stories and mapping out follow-up activities. The conferences are accompanied with expositions of Armenian and Turkish products that help businesspeople to familiarize themselves with a wide range of products, thus allowing them to come up with concrete suggestions of cooperation.

Organizing Issue-based Business Roundtables and Business-to-Business Meetings

Issue-based roundtables bring together up to 15 businesspeople from the same sector with an aim to provide a platform where business deals can be potentially initiated and/or concluded. Smaller business-to-business meetings are organized with participation of up to 4 business representatives, where a set of concrete issues are thoroughly discussed among the businesses that demonstrated initial interest in each other.

Promoting the role of women entrepreneurs in Rapprochement

UMBA believes that empowering women in business is an important step to development, with businesswomen having the potential to have an important input into the rapprochement process between Armenia and Turkey. Currently, UMBA cooperates with Armenian “Women’s Forum” NGO and Turkish “DOGUNKAD” NGO. In 2011, an agreement of cooperation was signed between the organizations and a joint platform was created for promoting cross-border cooperation between businesswomen from Armenia and Turkey.

In this section, Armenian and Turkish companies interested in cross-border partnership are encouraged to fill out the Company Information Questionnaire in Armenian, English or Turkish. The provided information will become available at www.armturkbusiness.org which is the official website of the Information and Assistance Center for Armenian and Turkish Entrepreneurs.

Project Director

Mr. Artur Ghazaryan
Address: 20/2 Tigran Mets Ave., Yerevan, Armenia
Tel: +37410 540715; +37495 730737
E-mail: cesoinarm@gmail.com

Project Coordinator

Mr. Kamo Mayilyan
Address: 20/2 Tigran Mets Ave., Yerevan, Armenia
Tel: +37410 540715; +37494 804845
E-mail: kamomailyan@yahoo.com