The Memorandum of Cooperation for Türkiye's membership in the Network of Procurement Review Bodies of Southeast Europe was signed in Ankara. In the activity organized for the ceremony of signing the Mou, in the premises of the institution of the Public Procurement Authority of the Republic of Türkiye, were present the chairman of the Public Procurement Commission of the Republic of Albania and the leader of the network Mr. Jonaid Myzyri, the president of the Procurement Review Body of Kosovo, Mrs. Vjosa Gradinaj Mexhuani, representatives of the respective institutions, representative of SIGMA-OECD, Mr. Zoran Bražević, as well as online participants, the representative of SIGMA-OECD, Mrs. Eliza Niewiadomska, as well as representatives of Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania.

The President of the Public Procurement Authority of the Republic of Türkiye, Mr. Hamdi Güleç, congratulated the members of the Network of South-East European Procurement Review Bodies, especially the chairman of the Public Procurement Commission of the Republic of Albania, as well as the leader of the network, Mr. Myzyri, for this initiative with a significant impact on public procurement, whose main purpose is the exchange of information and experience regarding the functioning of complaint review systems in the field of public procurement of member countries, and expressed his gratitude to all members of the network, who unanimously decided that Türkiye. should be part of the network.

„Since its establishment in 2002, the Public Procurement Authority has been striving to renew and improve itself day by day in both rewiev and regulation as well as digitalization activities.

As of November 2022, all open procurement procedures and competitive procedures with negotiation in accordance with the subparagraphs (b), (c), and (f) of Article 21 of the Law No. 4734, are required to be carried out by means of electronic tendering. Intensive efforts are also underway for the electronic evaluation of tenders.

Finally, with the legislation amendment published in April, it was adopted that the complaints to public authorities and the appeal applications to the Public Procurement Authority should be made via Electronic Public Procurement Platform using an e-signature, thus facilitating applications against procurement procedures.

The development of innovative solutions and practices in public procurement, the revision of the national procurement system in line with international developments, and the tracking of current trends are among the priorities of our Institution.

Becoming a part of this network is also a reflection of these efforts. Collaborating with similar institutions in other countries in this field is important for the development of our public procurement system.

The shared values and bonds we have with Southeast European countries provide a strong basis for cooperation. In this context, I believe that sharing our experiences in the field of public procurement review sysyem and exchanging ideas on addressing issues will be very beneficial.

I hope that the cooperation process initiated with the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding will be beneficial for all stakeholders and that the network's activities will be carried out in motivation and harmony.“ - emphasized Mr. Güleç during his speech.

Meanwhile, Mr. Myzyri in his speech, said that he felt honored to be in Ankara, in the capacity of the Chairman of the Public Procurement Commission of the Republic of Albania, but also as the leader of the Network of South-East European Public Procurement Review Bodies for the first year, to sign the membership of the Republic of Türkiye, in the first network of PRBs of Southeast Europe and that his emotions were even greater, that this important moment happened precisely in the year of the leadership of Albania, as a founding state and member of this network.

„The Albanian-Turkish relationship is a special, multi-dimensional relationship with deep roots in history, unconditionally, in various fields, economy, art, culture, and today, I feel honored to establish a new chapter of cooperation, the exchange of experiences also in public procurement between the two countries.

188 days ago, Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina came together in the space of a dream to co-found the network of public procurement review bodies of Southeast Europe.

In The DNA of the network is the acceptance of the need to define and share the values of mutual cooperation and expressing the importance of information exchange related to review experiences in the field of public procurement.

Our objective is clear, strengthening cooperation and exchange of experience, opinions and expertise, special knowledge on special legal topics in the field of public procurement. That's why we are here, the countries of the Western Balkans, the candidate countries and the member countries of the European Union and Türkiye to listen to each other and learn both from the best practices and from our mistakes.

During these 188 days, the Republic of Türkiye and the Public Procurement Authority has been co - participant in many important events starting from the establishment, organization of a joint workshop with the National Anti -Corruption Agency of the Republic of Italy (ANAC), the technical discussion at the technical level of decision making of the European Court of Justice at the joint roundtable in the Republic of Romania.

The contribution of the Republic of Türkiye has been an added value in terms of learning good practices, but also the challenges that all countries share today. Today for us as Albania but also for the network is an important day in our calendar, because with your membership today the network is joined by the authority's 21 years of experience and meanwhile one of the authorities with the highest number of complaints handling, this also for the fact of the procurement market itself in Türkiye.

All of our countries together with Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia and Türkiye, share not only good neighborly relations, significant trade exchange, but also interaction of economic operators in Procurement procedures, cultural and historical value, similarity in legislation for many of us, both the challenge of EU membership, but also the common goal: the fight against corruption and the improvement of the business climate.“ - said Mr. Myzyri.