ANKARA - Frederic Sicre, the Managing Director at the World Economic Forum which organizes Davos meetings, said on Wednesday that Turkey's influence on its region, particularly on Iraq was significant.
Turkey, which was a strategic country had big responsibilities in the region, told Sicre to A.A correspondent, adding that the Forum attached great importance to Turkey. Sicre stressed that Turkey was a key country in respect of peace and stability.
Sicre said that one of his reasons of coming to Turkey was to see the contributions of Turkey to regional peace within the scope of Davos meetings. Sicre pointed out that the Forum wanted to listen to the proposals of Turkey about regional peace and economic prosperity. Noting that Turkey could constitute a model in the region with its democratic structure, Sicre said that the World Economic Forum wanted to hold a summit in Istanbul.
Stressing that there was a positive trend in economy and structural measures, Sicre said that necessary reforms were undertaken on the way to EU. Sicre commented that 20 percent inflation target could be reached at the end of the year and they believed the economic growth would be 6 percent.
Underlining that Turkey was undertaking necessary reforms for EU and fulfilling economic and political criteria, Sicre said that EU would probably give a negotiation date to Turkey at the end of 2004. Sicre said that they wanted to see Turkey as an EU member.
(Öª-AÖ) 17.09.2003