Borsa İstanbul’s opening-bell rang for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the first time on Thursday, October 19, 2017. An opening-bell ceremony was held at Borsa İstanbul for the International Cities and Non-Governmental Organizations Summit to be hosted by Esenler Municipality under the auspices of H.E. President on October 20-22.

Borsa İstanbul Chairman Himmet Karadağ, Esenler Mayor Mehmet Tevfik Göksu, Istanbul University President Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak, İlim Yayma Cemiyeti (Society for Spreading Science) Chairman Yusuf Tülün and  Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate Reform of the Public Sector Division, OECD,  Oscar Huerta Melchor rang the bell together.



Following the opening-bell ceremony, Borsa İstanbul Chairman and Türkiye Wealth Fund Acting Chairman Himmet Karadağ delivered a speech. Mr. Karadağ said, “This Summit will contribute to attract real estate certificates and other similar products related with urban transformation to Borsa İstanbul as well as to finance urban transformation. It will help to introduce Borsa İstanbul to wide audiences that would like to become real estate investors or acquire real estate. Therefore, we attach great importance to and support the International Cities and Non-Governmental Organizations Summit.

As Borsa İstanbul, we are striving to contribute to the reconstruction of our cities and ensure widened access to the financial markets. As part of these efforts, real estate certificates started to be traded on Borsa İstanbul last April. We believe that, as real estate certificates alleviate the interest burden on the real estate sector, naturally they offer price and cost advantages for the investors.

Thanks to this innovative product, real estates will be valued realistically in Borsa İstanbul’s transparent environment while investors that are able to collect a sufficient number of real estate certificates will be able to acquire residences. Real estate certificates are revolutionary products since they allow a large audience to the capital markets and also in terms of urban transformation”.

Emphasizing that the Summit is very important for Turkey’s promotion, Esenler Municipality Mayor Mehmet Tevfik Göksu said:

“192 non-governmental organizations from 60 countries will participate in the Summit. These NGOs do not consist of a couple of persons only, they have thousands of people behind them. They will come here, get to know Turkey better and share their opinions and thoughts. This will greatly influence our economy and Turkey’s image abroad. With this Summit, we will respond to Turkey’s democratic processes and the perception that is planned to be created abroad. The Summit will also bring a different perspective to the urban problems experienced worldwide. It will be a tour of the horizon. With this meeting, we will touch upon the problems faced by the humanity all over the world, and see whether we can see these problems from the same perspective despite the fact that we speak different languages, and see what solutions we can offer”.