Miller Magazine Issue: 112 April 2019

60 NEWS APRIL 2019 Mahmoud Riyad Secretary General of Egyptian Milling Association I have been to IDMA Exhibition before and it was very nice. I’m president of the delegation from Mali. I hope we will do good things together. First, I would like to thank to the IDMA Exhibition organizers, their partners, all participants, and especially the Republic of Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I also thank all the Malian businessmen who trusted in me. I would like to specify that the friendship and cooperation between Mali and the Republic of Turkey have continued for years in a very nice way. At the same time, the two countries show a common will for the mutual evaluation of economic opportunities. It was actually a long time ago that steps towards the friendship and cooperation were taken first. The Commercial, Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement signed in 1999 is the most obvious and significant example of this. Since then, bilateral relations in economic and political terms have become increasingly cordial. In 2014, the trade volume between the two count- ries increased to 43 million dollars. However, this figure is far below the real potential. I believe we can increase the trade volume between the two countries to $500 million, and I trust the heads of state for this target. The main motor power in this process will undoubtedly be the private sector and our valuable businessmen. Thank you so much. We can increase the trade volume between Mali and Turkey As you know, Egypt is one of the largest wheat consumers all over the world. That means wheat flour is very important to our people. For that reason, we established Egyptian Mil- ling Association to serve the millers in Egypt and give them knowledge about how to mill and flour which is very impor- tant to Egyptians to making bread. As you know, bread is life. Egyptian Milling Association was founded on 1996 to serve the millers in Egypt and the milling industry. The target of our association is to provide training. At the same time, we publish Milling Industry Magazine. We also organize workshops and exhibitions. We are proud to participate in IDMA for the se- cond time. We are also proud to be here in Turkey because we love Turkey so much because there are historical relationships between Egypt and Turkey. Many people in Egypt are of Turkish origin. Egyptians participate in this ex- hibition with four companies. And we came to Istanbul with a large delegation to participate in that important event. Besides, these ex- hibitions open many opportunities to meet the flour producing specialists from Turkey which is the glo- bal leader in flour production and trade. We are proud and participate in and visit your exhibiti- on. Thank you very much. We came to IDMA with a large delegation IDMA 2019 Mali-Turkey Business and Orientation Center President Moussa Coulibaly