ANKARA - Dutch Ambassador in Ankara Sjoerd Izaak Hendrik Gosses said on Friday that Turkey was evaluating its time well in the European Union (EU) process, but there were still things to be done and there was no time to spend.
Meeting with reporters at the new building of Dutch Embassy in Ankara, Gosses said that relations between Turkey and the Netherlands were positive and they attributed importance to keep relations with Ankara on the highest level.
Recalling that the Netherlands would be EU term president in the second half of 2004, Gosses emphasized that the Netherlands would be a good, serious and just president as it was in the past.
Touching on the importance of term presidency of the Netherlands for Turkey, Gosses said that Turkey would have priority in this period.
Noting that Turkey made an important progress by adopting reform packages, Gosses said that there were still things to be done.
Gosses said that there was no time to spend. Noting that it was important for EU to see Turkey's adopting reform packages and putting them into practice, adding that the visit of Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende to Turkey next week was important within this scope. Gosses added that 25 EU member countries would take a decision about Turkey when time has come.
(GC-AÖ) 03.10.2003