ABFT DİNNER

American Business Forum in Turkey (ABFT) celebrated its second anniversary with a dinner reception on February 17 th at Istanbul Conrad. The US Ambassador and the Honorary Chairman of the Forum H.E. Ross Wilson, Mr. Egemen Bagis, MP for Istanbul and Chairman of the Turkey-USA Inter-parliamentary Friendship Caucus and Mr. Kadir Topbaş, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor gave speeches on the relations of Turkey and the US.

The keynote speaker Mr. Egemen Bagis resembled the Turkish-American relations to a marriage: "In marriages there are good days, and sometimes even better days" added Mr. Bagis, "The support, assistance and cooperation between Turkey and the US with regards to international terrorism, clearly indicate that America's war is not against Islam. We are hoping that the commercial relations we have with the US should soon reach the level of political and military relations."

Mr. Ross Wilson, the Ambassador of US and Honorary Chairman of the ABFT noted on the Turkish-American relations: "Turkey has always been our ally and will continue to be. That's exactly why when we are planning our strategic decisions in the region, Turkey's experience and opinions carry a special importance to us. We can exemplify with the current events in Iran. We are consulting together with utmost seriousness. We want to expand such partnerships".