WE ARE ASSERTIVE ABOUT EXPO 2020

The Minister for European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis said: “We are assertive about EXPO 2020. This is a national matter and we are all assigned with the duty of supporting Izmir in this respect”

Minister Bagis received Mustafa Cahit Kirac, the Governor of Izmir, Aziz Kocaoglu, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and the delegation accompanying them who are to visit South Korea for the candidacy to EXPO 2020 in Ortakoy Office of the Ministry for European Union Affairs.

In his speech he delivered there Bagis reminded that Izmir had been a candidate for Expo 2015 also and continued as follows: “Unfortunately, due to a democratic crisis, Izmir lost at that time. The suspicion and the anxiety of the international society arisen as a consequence of the closure case filed against our party, caused Izmir to end up losing.”

Egemen Bagis stated that he made the candidacy of Izmir for EXPO 2020 a current issue on every meeting held in all EU member states that he visits. “I believe that obtaining that title which it merited and hosting EXPO would be highly profitable for Izmir in terms of realizing the infrastructure projects it needed” said Bagis.

Bagis reminded that the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also supported the candidacy of Izmir for EXPO 2020 and continued: “The Prime Minister is now in Mexico, and afterwards, will be in Brazil and he will bring up these issues to the agenda both in G20 Summit and in the Summit for Sustainable Development. He will ask for the support of international leaders for Izmir”.