THIRD MEETING OF THE FINANCIAL COOPERATION COORDINATION BOARD

The third meeting of the Financial Cooperation Coordination Board which was established to monitor and evaluate the general functioning of the Turkish-EU financial cooperation process, was held at the Ministry for EU Affairs under the chairmanship of Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and with the participation of the high representatives of the Ministries which are the members of the Board. 

In his speech, Minister Bagis indicated that Turkey was one of the countries which benefited the most from the EU funds and that half of the 10 billion-Euro budget designated for the candidate and potential candidate countries for the 2012-2013 period was allocated to Turkey.

Indicating that whole amount of money should be used effectively, Bagis emphasized that 4 million euro would be used for Van, where the recent earthquake occurred. Bagis stated that 4 million euro was allocated for preventing bribery and strengthening public ethics and that nearly 40 million euro was allocated for improving border security and removing the mines at the border area.

In the meeting, general evaluations were made regarding 5 different components of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 2007-2013, and accreditation processes of the Ministries responsible for the execution of the Operational Programs and the financial assistance allocated under those 5 components, increasing the capacity of the application of the funds for 2011-2012 and the strategic steps to be taken were discussed in detail.