ISTANBUL - Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun who had attended a meeting on ''Policies for Competitive European Union (EU) in Global Market'' in Italian capital Rome, returned to Turkey on Sunday.
Addressing journalists at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport after his arrival, Coskun said that besides 15 member countries to the EU, 10 new candidates and representatives of Turkey Romania and Bulgaria had attended the meeting.
''During the meeting, I said that Turkey having a population of 67 million, a member of the Customs Union which makes more than 50 percent of its foreign trade to the EU countries, cannot be indifferent against policies and measures aiming at increasing the competition power of the EU,'' he said.
Coskun told reporters, ''new methods and strategies to increase competition power of the EU to the highest level in the world in line with 2010 Lisbon targets.''
He recalled that Turkey would host the Second Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministers' Conference on ''Encouragement of Entrepreneurs and Reformist Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs) in Global Economy'' in Istanbul in June of 2004 with the participation of representatives of 80 countries.
(UK-AÖ) 14.07.2003