THE ANCIENT CITY OF EPHESUS WILL JION THE WORLD LEADERS OF TOURISM
The Ephesus Foundation, in the process of being established under the guidance of Borusan Holding, aims to contribute to the development of the Ephesus ancient city and to its international promotion. In order to promote the Foundation, which is aimed to become active soon, a meeting, hosted by Ahmet Kocabıyık, took place in Ephesus. Ertuğrul Günay, the Minister for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Beatrix Karl, Republic of Austria Federal Minister for Science and Research participated to the meeting, as well as Sabine Ladstatter, the academician who conducts the digging at the site and Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of Eczacıbaşı Holding and Founding Member of the Foundation Board.
May 17, 2010, The ancient city of Ephesus, with its unique history - going back more than 10,000 years - and geographical position is among the most important cultural and historical assets of not only Turkey, but of the world. New projects like Terrace Houses and recently increasing promotion efforts – albeit it is a slow process – played their part in the increasing popularity of Ephesus Ancient City, which is pushing its limits to go beyond the figure of annually 2 million visitors. The Ephesus Foundation, the establishment process of which continues under the guidance of Borusan Holding, aims to increase the pace of archaeological digs in the ancient city and to support its promotion at the international level in order to bring the Ephesus Ancient City up in the list of world’s leading tourism sites.
On the occasion of starting Ephesus Foundation’s activities, a meeting, hosted by Ahmet Kocabıyık, the Chairman of Borusan Holding, took place. Ertuğrul Günay, the Minister for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Beatrix Karl, Republic of Austria Federal Minister for Science and Research participated to the meeting, as well as Sabine Ladstatter, the academician who conducts the digging at the site and Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of Eczacıbaşı Holding and Founding Member of the Foundation Board.
At his opening speech, Ahmet Kocabıyık, who initiated the project, laid down the purpose of the Foundation as making Ephesus a showcase to present to the world the modern applications of the science of archaeology.
Kocabıyık said:
"In addition to restoration and digs in various fields, enriching the experience of tourists is also among the targets of our Foundation. We have prepared a comprehensive initiative and action plan ranging from alternative trekking programs to night tours and from social and cultural activities to efforts aiming to increase the interest in Selçuk. We sincerely believe that this initiative will increase the pace of digs in the Ephesus Ancient City, contribute to the international promotion of this site, which will attract sponsors, and shape the infra structure, which will help the tourists to have an unforgettable experience at Ephesus."
Describing the Ephesus Foundation’s mission as “creating funds in order to develop and protect the ancient city and presenting it to the world”, Ahmet Kocabıyık continued:
"For this project, which is very important for our country, we expect the support of everyone, whatever the size of their contributions. Reaching our target and fulfilling our mission is possible only if the society owns this project in the widest fashion possible. Ephesus is one of the most important ancient cities of the world. The Ephesus Foundation aims to increase awareness about this important cultural heritage of world. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of Eczacıbaşı Holding, who worked hard for the establishment of the Foundation and is here today with us."
Kocabıyık concluded his speech as below:
"The Ephesus Foundation aims to support our country’s cultural heritage and potential for tourism, as well as to create value for the platform of international archaeology. We believe that as the Ephesus Ancient City, with its historical value, becomes a center of attraction for the world population, its importance as a bridge in cultural and economic co-operations will also increase. I would like to thank to the Honorable Minister Karl and Mr. Landstatter, as well as our other Austrian friends who helped to unearth Ephesus’ cultural value."
The Director of Austrian Archaeology Institute, Associate Professor Sabine Ladstatter gave information about the work done up to now. Pointing out the fact that Ephesus is one of the few cultural treasures of world, Ladstatter continued; "The Ephesus Foundation’s multi dimensional support approach will help to attract more international interest on this cultural treasure."
The board will get sponsors from all over the world
Among the founders of the Ephesus Foundation are Borusan Holding, Eczacıbaşı Holding and Doğuş Holding as corporations and Ahmet Kocabıyık, Zeynep Hamedi, Nükhet Özmen, Alexander E. Gertner and Yasemin Pirinçcioğlu as individuals.
The highest organ of decision for the Foundation is the Board of Trustee’s, formed by founders. It appoints the 9 - member Board. The members of the Board are Borusan Holding Chairman Ahmet Kocabıyık, Eczacıbaşı Holding Chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Doğuş Holding Chairman Ferit Şahenk, Borusan Culture and Arts Chairman Zeynep Hamedi, M&D Gertner GmbH Chairman Alexander E. Gertner, VIP Tourism Chairwoman Yasemin Pirinççioğlu, Director of Austrian Archaeology Institute and Associate Professor Sabine Ladstatter, Chairman of the Friends of Ephesus Association Dr. Albert Hochleitner and the Manager of Turkey Ephesus Museum Cengiz Topal.
The local founders will be meeting the expenses of the Foundation for the first year. In the coming years, it is planned to finance a significant part of its activities through international donations. One of the main duties of the Foundation Committee and Board is to use personal contacts in order to reach those people who are interested in Ephesus Ancient City and turn them into sponsors.
5 main areas of activities
The activities of the Foundation can be summarized under 5 headlines.
Financial support: The Foundation will support archaeological digs and provide financial support for the Museum. It is aimed to provide an unforgettable experience for the tourists visiting the archaeological site.
Guidance to the process of digging: The Foundation will add pace and help to accelerate the partially completed digs and the digs at the fields closed to visits.
Projects and plans will be prepared to complete the uncompleted digs under the guidance of local and international experts and necessary precautions will be taken to open these fields for visits during the digs.
Library and Archives: The Foundation will prepare a digital archive, which will include all the researches on the ancient city until now and all the digs done so far in Ephesus. It is also planned to prepare a library of copies of all the books and magazines published so far on Ephesus in Turkey or abroad.
Research: The Foundation will be supporting academic researches on the history of Ephesus, its architecture and different lifestyles existed in the ancient city at different historical periods.
Promotion: Promotion will be mainly conducted through web - based activities. These will include direct mailing to targeted groups, shopping on Internet and sending bulletins on the activities in the ancient city. International symposiums will be organized in order to increase consciousness on Ephesus. The Foundation will also be organizing cultural activities like concerts and exhibitions in different places and it will promote Ephesus actively.
Through these activities new sponsors will be found for Ephesus and the ancient city will climb up towards the top in the list of world’s tourism leaders.
BORUSAN MANNESMANN BORU INITIATED A NEW INVESTMENT FOR LINE PIPE MARKET
Borusan Mannesmann Boru (BMB) has initiated an investment plan to commission a new production facility with an annual production capacity of 250,000 tons in Gemlik/Turkey. The new facility will produce large diameter line pipes and expected to be commissioned by 2011 with an investment cost of 90 million USD. The new investment will put BMB into a stronger position in the large diameter line pipe industry.
January 2010, Istanbul. Borusan Mannesmann Boru (BMB), one of the leading European producers in the welded steel pipe industry, initiated a new investment plan, targeting current and future demand potential in large diameter line pipe industry. BMB will establish a new facility with an annual production capacity of 250,000 tons at Gemlik campus, where the company’s biggest production capacity is already located. The new facility, expected to cost about 90 million USD, will manufacture API grade large diameter line pipes to be used in energy industry.
The investment has been designed to be a state of art production facility with respect to production technology, capability, flexibility, plant lay-out. Additionally, the location of the investment, Gemlik/Turkey, is strategically important as the new facility will be adjacent to Borusan Port, which will bring competitive advantage in terms of both inbound and outbound logistic costs as well as efficiency improvement in inventory management.
BMB is now stronger in the large diameter line pipe market
The strong demand potential stem from oil and gas distribution projects in target markets combined with the strong brand recognition and market positioning of BMB has led to the investment decision.
Commenting on the new investment, Mr. Bülent Demircioğlu, Chairman of The Board says:
"One of the strategic targets of Borusan Mannesmann Boru is to invest in high end product segments, thus increasing the value creation for our stakeholders. In order to utilize current and future market opportunities, we have decided to make an investment for line pipe market. In our target markets, being Turkey, Europe, North Africa, Middle East and America, many important projects are on the agenda and in scope of BMB. Nabucco and Southern Stream projects are the biggest ones among our targeted projects list. We have reinforced our position in this sector by being a reliable pipe supplier in many important projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Shahdeniz, Blue Stream. As a result of this investment decision we will become stronger and more competitive among our national and international peers. Our investment decision, in a time of global crisis, shows our trust and commitment to the promising future of our company as well as our country, Turkey"
Borusan Mannesmann is very experienced in international markets
Borusan Mannesmann Boru has already undersigned important pipe line projects. BMB gained very important experiences in the production of high quality gas and oil line pipes by taking part in important projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Shahdeniz, Blue Stream, Iran-Turkey natural gas pipe line. Building on this credible reference list, BMB has successfully penetrated into Iran, Algeria, Europe and recently to USA markets.
BMB has successfully completed the Elba Express project in February 2009. The agreement with a contract value of 170 million USD, was signed at the end of 2007 and BMB was chosen as the “sole pipe supplier” for the delivery of FBE coated large diameter spiral pipes for Elba Express Project. Pipe delivery started in May 2008 and successfully completed in total of 9 months, earlier than the original time schedule. Upon the successful completion of Elba Express Project, BMB has achieved to win another important tender in the USA market. Currently, pipe deliveries for the new project continue successfully.