SECOND FORUM OF THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS

Within the scope of "the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations" Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis met with the Foreign ministers of Malta, Sweden, Estonia and Slovenia.

In the forum meeting held in Cıragan Palace, Bagis firstly met with Malta deputy prime minister and foreign minister Tonio Borg. Later on he met with the foreign minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt; foreign minister of Estonia, Urmas Paet; and with the foreign minister of Slovenia, Samuel Zbogar; respectively.

In his meeting with Borg, Bagis thanked Malta for its support to Turkey's accession process to EU and to Turkey's membership for the UN Security Council.

Bagis and Borg talked over the possible contributions of Turkey to EU and of EU to Turkey; and they evaluated that this relation is based on "win-win" formula.

Chapters to be opened in the Czech presidency and the also the chapters to be opened in the presidency of Sweden were discussed in the meeting with Carl Bildt, foreign minister of Sweden which is going to hold the presidency for the second half of 2009.

Cyprus issue was also brought up to the agenda. With regard to this, Bagis declared Turkey's support to TRNC President Mehmet Ali Talat and added that Turkey would continue to support every effort to find a permanent and fair solution. He also emphasized that the Greek Cypriot Republic should be promoted by the EU Member States to take steps for the solution.

Turkey's accession process to EU was also discussed by the Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, Bagis ; foreign minister of Estonia, Paet; and with the foreign minister of Slovenia, Samuel.

In this meeting both of the ministers declared that membership of Turkey would be beneficial both for Turkey and the EU and that they would support the process.

Before the opening session of "the Second Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations" Bagis met with the Foreign Minister of Greece, Dora Bakoyanni.

In the meeting, Turkish-Greek relations, current position of Cyprus issue, effect of EU membership on the Turkish-Greek relations, and support of Greece for the Turkey's EU membership were talked over. Both Bagis and Bakoyanni declared that dialogue between the two countries should be promoted.

Resource: AA