ANKARA - The 25th anniversary conference of World Economic Processing Zones Association (WEPZA) will be held in Istanbul under the leadership of State Minister and President of WEPZA Kursat Tuzmen on October 19-21.

Foreign Trade Undersecretariat stated on Sunday that after the WEPZA council meeting on October 19, the conference on ''Using Economic Processing Zones (EPZs) to Build Trade Capacity'' will be held in five sessions on October 20-21. Totally 24 experts will attend the conference as speakers from the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The concept of free zones will be discussed with its various dimensions during the conference.

State Minister Kursad Tuzmen, President of Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) Rifat Hisarcıklıoglu, and WEPZA Director Robert Haywood will issue the welcoming address.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also expected to attend the conference.

State Minister and WEPZA President Kursad Tuzmen said that free zones contributed significantly to regional economies. Noting that holding of the conference in Turkey was very important, Tuzmen said that the 25th anniversary of WEPZA would be celebrated and the results of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Cancun conference would be discussed during the conference.

Tuzmen said that WEPZA which served significantly to free zone understanding since its foundation by United Nations in 1978, had further increased its importance. Noting that he was the president of WEPZA since 1999, Tuzmen said that WEPZA closely monitored the developments in contact with international and regional organizations like WTO, OECD, ILO.

(ÖŞ) 12.10.2003