ISTANBUL - Tuncay Ozilhan, the Executive Board President of the Association of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen (TUSIAD) said on Tuesday that the contributions of Turkey would be more than the problems claimed to come out due to Turkey's membership to the EU.
Issuing a written statement about the meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, TUSIAD noted that Ozilhan explained the impressions they got from their latest visit to Brussels and their assessments about the EU Commission's Progress Report on Turkey which was reflected to the press.
Ozilhan stated that he gathered the problems mentioned in the report under the titles of ''civilian-military relations,'' ''implementation of reforms'' and ''religious rights'' noting that ''we believe that Turkey will successfully overcome these problems particularly the ones related to implementation of legal arrangements.''
TUSIAD trusted the energy and driving force of the civil society in Turkey and also the resolution of the government in overcoming the problems, Ozilhan said, expressing pleasure with the progress report's praising the importance of the steps taken by Turkey.
Ozilhan said that the report didn't stress much the giant steps Turkey took for economic stabilization, adding that the inflation decreased to the level which was 25 years ago, adding that economy started to improve and the country was moving in the direction of sustainable growth. Ozilhan stated that the economy was expected to enter into a revival process when the negotiations would start.
TUSIAD noted that Belgian Prime Minister Verhofstadt said in the meeting that ''the decision taken in Copenhagen summit noted that if 2004 Progress Report was positive, negotiations would start with Turkey. 2003 Progress Report should be assessed in technical aspect in respect of completing the harmonization with Copenhagen political criteria.''
(ÖŞ-AY) 04.11.2003