27/04/2016
Sabancı University and Technical University of Sofia started a joint research project for "Harmonization and Improvement Process Analysis at Kapıkule and Kapitan Andreevo Border Entries."
Implemented in partnership with the Association of International Freight Forwarders (UND) and the International Freight Forwarders' Union of Bulgaria (SMP), the project kicked off with a meeting at the Customs and Trade Regional Directorate of Trakya.
Sabancı University School of Management Dean Füsun Ülengin, Technical University of Sofia Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Transport and Aircraft Equipment and Technologies Department Dean Valyo Nikolov Nikolov and faculty member Georgi Jordanov Kozarev made presentations to state the objectives of the project.
The project is also supported by Turkish and Bulgarian ministries of customs and aims to increase the customs clearance capacity of border crossings from 750 to 1600 in the short term and 3000 in the longer term.
Sabancı University School of Management Dean Füsun Ülengin pointed out that the project involved cooperation between Sabancı University, Istanbul Technical University, Doğuş University and UND.
Müslüm Yalçın, Regional Director of Trakya Customs and Trade said that the border zone needed to be designed and used not as a commercial activity area but only as a crossing similar to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul.
UND Chief Executive Fatih Şener stated that many investors were exiting the Turkish market due to time lost at domestic checkpoints and border crossings, and called for fast and secure border crossings.
SMP Secretary-General Yordan Arabaciev spoke about the need to resolve issues that caused delays on both sides of the border, and improve customs clearance processes.
Also attending the meeting were representatives from the Ministry of Customs and Trade, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and the Customs and Tourism Authority.
The members of the project team from Sabancı University are School of Management Dean Füsun Ülengin, School of Management Assistant Dean Burçin Bozkaya, and Industrial Engineering Program students Alihan Tütüncü and Cihan Sevgi Turan. Team members from Istanbul Technical University are İlker Topçu, Özgür Kabak and Mine Işık from Industrial Engineering. Doğuş University Industrial Engineering joins the project with Şule Önsel Ekici, Bora Çekyay, Peral Toktaş Palut and Özay Özaydın.
