We are fortunate to be one of the countries offering the most suitable energy options today when Europe has been preparing for a challenging winter season and many parts of the world have been experiencing an energy crisis. I am of the opinion that it was pretty accurate for our journal featuring a significant topic on its cover in each issue to bring the energy topic to the cover in this issue.

Having been carrying out business diplomacy activities for the development of our country’s foreign economic relations for 37 years, DEIK has 143 bilateral country Business Councils, 6 Sectoral Business Councils and two special purpose business councils. Since its es- tablishment in 2013, our Energy Business Council has been striving to bring companies operating in the energy sector in Türkiye abroad and support such companies in this process, and establish national and international communication and cooperation networks for energy companies. The business activities of our members in

clude electricity generation, distribution, manufacturing, contracting services, commodity trading for fossil and renewable energy sub-sectors, and so on. As DEIK, we conduct dialogue meetings, energy forums, roundtable meetings, and various projects with the purpose of improving the bilateral economic relations of Türkiye with the relevant countries.

The Southern Caucasus Energy Corridor, which includes Azerbaijan, is one of the areas we work on as the Busi- ness Council. Last year, we took part in the first Türki- ye-Azerbaijan Energy Forum. We met with the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Türkiye and the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the 2nd Türki- ye-Azerbaijan Energy Forum in Istanbul. We discussed the demands of our business world for cooperation in the areas of wind and solar projects, installation of biogas, water and wastewater treatment plants, energy storage systems, hydrogen and offshore wind energy, as well as traditional cooperation areas such as EPC, natural gas and oil cooperation, power plant operation, and equipment supply.

Furthermore, as an indicator of the importance that we attach to the diversification of energy resources in our country, we came together with Fatih Dönmez, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye, and the German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action at the 4th Turkish-German Energy Forum in Berlin. We have stated that our country has a significant supply infrastructure above the EU average in terms of energy production from renewable sources and based on the report of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) that Türkiye has a high potential in renewable energy, we made a mention of our forward- ness to cooperate more with Germany with the purpose introducing this potential to European markets and third

countries.The green deal is also among the areas we are working on. We carried out joint activities with EU-based institutions. We are also planning activities on hydrogen technologies for the upcoming period. Another title we address is “Energy Poverty”. Unfortunately, 850 million people around the world do not have access to elec- tricity. Many institutions, especially the United Nations, are developing various programs in these geographies, most of which are located in Africa and Asia. We are striving to reach every point of the continent through the African expansion, which has matured under the leadership of our President of the Republic of Türkiye in recent years and as DEIK, we have contributed great- ly to the organization of the business world. I believe that we will create new success stories for regional cooperation in the coming period. It is well-known how vital information and networking are in today’s world. I believe that as DEIK, we will keep striving for expanding companies operating in the energy sector in Türkiye to abroad, supporting such companies in this process, and making experience-based qualified information accessible through the creation of national and inter- national communication and cooperation networks for energy companies

You will also find the opinions of Fatih Dönmez, Min- ister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye, further enriching this issue of our journal, where we deal with the topic of “Energy” down to the last detail. In the course of the evaluations we made with Mustafa Yılmaz, Head of EMRA, Burhan Özcan, General Manager at BOTAŞ, and valuable business people, and scholars, we discussed significant issues such as vital steps to be taken in energy activities and the secrets of success in business life.

Enjoy your reading, and stay safe.

Nail Olpak / President of DEİK