TABDC welcomes new president of AGBU

Mr. Berge Setrakian, President

Armenian General Benevolent Union

55 East, 59th Street, New York,

NY 10022

Dear Mr. Setrakian:

It is with great pleasure that the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council welcomes your appointment as the President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

I would like to express my sincere congratulations and hope that your new leadership role within the Armenian community creates the opportunity for the AGBU to contribute to the strengthening of the regional economic cooperation that the TABDC has been steadfastly pursuing between our homelands of Armenia and Turkey.

TABDC’s mission is to foster the creation of new trade links between the business people of Armenia, Central, Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia and the Armenian Diaspora. Our aim is to mobilize the Armenian Diaspora to use their extensive business expertise and worldwide political connections to help develop new commercial opportunities for communities struggling on both sides of the Turkish-Armenian border. We believe that building even a few small bridges between our nations will contribute to the creation of an atmosphere of renewed trust and enhance our faith in the effectiveness of a collaborative approach in terms of promoting economic welfare, normalization of political relations and pacification of the region.

I would like to propose the opening of a dialogue between our organizations to discuss how your members, many of whom are successful and respected business leaders from around the world, can participate as advisors to the TABDC as we continue to develop new ideas for Turkish-Armenian economic cooperation. For example, recent TABDC sponsored trade missions identified products that can be jointly produced by Armenian and Turkish local entrepreneurs, and these teams could use the guidance of a network of AGBU mentors to establish innovative international marketing strategies.

The promotion of tourism is another way to contribute to the economic development of both Anatolia and Armenia and to start to rebuild a cooperative and congenial relationship between the two populations who had been living together for centuries. We have contacts with travel agencies in the U.S., Armenia and Turkey and have begun to organize package programs to Anatolia and Armenia, not only for Diaspora Armenians but also for non-Armenian tourists. Our first tour organized by the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America and TABDC in June of 2001 was a great success.

We would also be grateful for the opportunity to strategize with some of your members with regard to expanding our marketing for these vacations.

Please accept my best wishes and highest considerations. I look forward to meeting with you to discuss the possibilities for the development of regional strategies that benefit both our constituencies.

Sincerely,

Kaan Soyak

Co-Chairman