TCA participated in the 2015 Reservation Economic Summit (RES) in Washington, DC, June 15-18, 2015. Organized by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED), the summit brought together members of Congress, corporations, federal agencies, and tribal businesses. This year’s theme for RES DC was “Advancing American Indian Enterprise for Growth in U.S. And Global Markets.”
TCA sponsored the Global Trade Reception on June 17, which featured the Kardelen Turkish Dance Ensemble. At the conference, TCA promoted its Study Abroad Scholarships for Native American Students. Other major non-Native American sponsors of RES DC included the U.S. Department of the Interior, AT&T, and Lockheed Martin. Turkey and Canada were the only two foreign countries represented at the summit.
TCA also coordinated additional Turkish participation in RES DC. Aydan Karamanoglu, First Counselor and Spokesman at the Turkish Embassy, spoke about Turkey’s interest in developing commercial ties with Indian Country during the “Sovereign-to-Sovereign Partnerships and Foreign Trade” session. The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) sponsored a two-page advertisement in the conference magazine about grants given by TIKA to Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (CTWS) and to Indian farmers in Guatemala, Peru, and Bolivia. The Turkish Heritage Organization (THO) had a booth at the conference’s Business Tradeshow.
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| Left to right: First Counselor and Spokesman of the Turkish Embassy Aydan Karamanoglu, NCAEID President and CEO Gary Davis, and TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy at the Global Trade Reception. | Left to right: TCA President G. Lincoln McCurdy, John McKiel of the U.S. Department of Commerce, First Counselor and Spokesman of the Turkish Embassy Aydan Karamanoglu, and TCA Project Coordinators Liz Clark and Kate Costello at the Global Trade Reception. |
