WISTA Turkey, under the chairmanship of Nuvara USLU ERDONMEZ, hosted 55 shipping women, coming from all around Europe and Mediterrenean countries for the 3rd WISTA-MED conference held in Istanbul.
Apart from the name of the conference, the participants of the WISTA-Med (Mediterrenean) Conference were not only coming from Greece, Spain, France, Italy and also UK, Holland, Norway, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria. WISTA Turkey passed this very first examination with a great success that can be understood from the pleasent comments of the attendees in return.
Conference programme started with the fantastic Bosphorus cruise and dinner on the boat on 13th May Friday night and followed with the conference on Saturday morning.
The Conference started with the opening speech of the WISTA Turkey president , Nuvara USLU ERDONMEZ, welcoming all attendees and thanking to all, for their support during the last two(2) years since WISTA Turkey was established and mentioning the importance of the month May .In May 2009, before the official establishment in July , WISTA Turkey hosted all WISTA International ExCo members in Istanbul; In May 2010 WISTA Turkey sponsored 5 disabled youngsters for the tall ship race between Istanbul and Lavrion and introduced them “the sea” . And this year , with the help of the WISTA Med Conference, the importance of the month May has been stregthened , she said.
After Nuvara USLU ERDONMEZ’s warm welcome speech Captain Alev TUNC; who is a well known shipping authority in Turkey and a valuable Board Member of Chamber of Shipping, welcomed WISTA members and mentioned the increasing number of the shipping women in the sector and the positive effects of this pleasant improvement.
After his motivating speech Captain Alev TUNC invited keynote speaker Prof.Dr. Güldem CERIT who is the Dean of Maritime Faculty of 9 Eylül University . Before her informing and interactive speech , Professor CERIT thanked WISTA Turkey for this great opportunity , she told that it is so wonderful to be with this group of powerful shipping women who determines maritime industry. Professor continued her speech with the changes in maritime businesses in terms of technology, structure, strategy & people and mentioning the ways of increasing involvement in managerial levels by promoting gender equality and empowering women seafarers . With the contribution of the all participants including Capt Alev Tunc, she also pointed the differences of women and how the industry can benefit from these special features.
Conference has been carried on with presentation of Mr Bahadır TONGUC- vice president of Turkish Shipbrokers Association . Main content of the speech was establishing and maintaining non- govermental organizations (NGOs) . His well informing speech went through with pointing the details such as identifying the area of peculiar needs, finding people of similar mind and internal&external partners with a clearly stated objectives. Followed by the advantages and disvantages of NGOs , leadership qualities have been analysed and stressed to the importance of the respect for every individual of the team.
After Mr.TONGUC , Berit BLOMQVIST , the former president of WISTA Sweden started her presentation and invited all WISTA Med attendees to the 31st WISTA International Conference and Annual General Meeting that will be held in Stockholm this year in September. She explained the full three (3) day conference in detail and asked everyone to be in the Welcome Reception that will be in the House of Nobility .
After these distinguished speakers , WISTA Turkey President Nuvara USLU ERDONMEZ thanked each and every member of WISTA Turkey that made the whole conference program so memorable and successful and she told that “ our teamwork is just a simple proof how WISTA works and with the participation of all these valuable shipping women actively working in the whole cluster of Shipping and Trading , the connections among WISTA members are getting stronger “.
After the conference 80 shipping women continued the program and took the guided tour arranged privately for them for Hagia Sophia and Grand Bazaar whole afternoon. Gala dinner on Saturday night, took place in one of the most famous restaurants of Istanbul and 80 shipping women enjoyed the night till late hours and appreciated for the great hospitality of WISTA Turkey.