GREAT INTEREST FOR TURKEY IN DAVOS

Evaluating the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis stated that there was high interest for Turkey in Davos.

Delivering speeches in the panels within the framework of World Economic Forum and realizing negotiations in which Turkey-EU relations and Turkey’s EU accession process were handled, Bagis said: “During the World Economic Forum held in Davos, we had the chance to see that there was a quite different atmosphere related to Turkey. Intellectuals, leaders and businessmen coming from all over the world were particularly talking about the success Turkey achieved in the recent years.”

Bagis emphasized that the steps taken in transparency and democratization as well as the success achieved in economy and international relations were attracting the attention of the other countries. Bagis said the following:

“We have heard many sentences of courtesy related to the Prime Minister who can be assumed as the real architect of this development. As a matter of fact, Davos has turned into a global intellectual meeting in which everyone tried to understand the formula which was put forth by Prime Minister Erdogan. China and Brazil were other countries towards which the interest was high. This year Azerbaijan has also been a very distinctive country in the World Economic Forum. The presence of President Aliyev and some different Azarbaijan activities enabled Azerbaijan to be followed by the other countries.

A lot of people we met stated that they were very excited about the World Economic Forum that will be held in Istanbul in January. For the first time the East and the West; the North and the South will gather in Istanbul. The World Economic Forum, for the first time, will be organizing a comprehensive meeting outside of Davos. Leaders from many countries, leading managers from the business world, analysts from the civil society organizations or from the academic circles are expected to participate in this Forum. Regarding the meeting that will be held in Istanbul, four separate preparation meetings were held. We attach great importance to this event.  Ali Babacan,  Deputy Prime Minister; Fatma Sahin, Minister of Family and Social Policies; the President of the Central Bank and the Turkish businessmen, as well as myself, were hosted with  truly a great amount of consideration and interest.”