The first overseas marketing activity of the year was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, under the Bursa Food Point UR-GE project, which was carried out by the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the support of the Ministry of Economy. The BTSO delegation, which has close to 50 business people working in the food sector, researched Dubai's investment environment and its potential. Also B2B event which held at Dubai Turkish Trade Center, drew considerable interest from Dubai business people.

BTSO Board Member Aytuğ Onur said that the first goal of BTSO is to increase the number of exporters in Bursa. Onur noted that during the first year of the UR-GE project, working with major activities undertaken in this direction, project companies’ export has increased more than 8 times compared to the Turkey’s general food export. He said “This year we will continue our efforts to maintain this success. We made business negotiations in Dubai with high level of participation. I believe that our companies will also get very good results from here”. Onur also thanked Dubai Commercial Attaché Hasan Önal and Director of Dubai Turkish Trade Center Serdar Fuat Kumbaracı for their hospitality and support.

Prior to the B2B Meetings, Dubai Commercial Attaché Hasan Önal met with companies and informed the companies about the United Arab Emirates market and investment opportunities. Noting that Dubai is an important location visited by 15 million tourists a year, Önal noted that Dubai is an important base for companies in the region. Önal stated that B2B Meetings which held at Dubai Turkish Trade Center were very successful and congratulated BTSO for their successful work on UR-GE projects.