WASHINGTON D.C. - Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal said on Friday that during his contacts in Washington D.C. the U.S. officially confirmed that Turkish companies also took part in the list of countries that could compete directly in giant tenders worth of 18.7 billion U.S. dollars regarding the reconstruction of Iraq.
Ziyal who is currently in Washington D.C. within the scope of Turkey-U.S. Economic Partnership Commission meetings, held a news conference.
Ziyal said that during his meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and her assistant Stephen Hadley it was confirmed that Turkey was included in the list of Iraq tenders.
''This list is composed of coalition countries which sent soldiers to Iraq. Turkey entered this list as a coalition country, which wanted to send soldiers to Iraq, but which could not do that,'' Ziyal said. Ziyal added he told American officials that Turkish companies would provide the cheapest, fastest and the best service.
Ziyal noted that he also referred to the needs of soldiers in Iraq, adding that U.S. would give a list of needs to Turkey and they would give this list to Turkish companies.
Ziyal stated that the most important result taken from the first U.S.-Turkey economic meeting was cooperation in Afghanistan and it was seen that Turkish companies carried out 90 percent of the activities in Afghanistan. He said his biggest expectation from the second meeting was to get a similar result in Iraq.
Noting that he was pleased with the meetings in the U.S. and he saw that Americans had a clearer approach when compared to past, Ziyal said that increasing trade with the U.S. and having direct foreign capital flow were very important for Turkey.
Ziyal said that the most difficult problem in entering American markets were related to customs and quotas, adding that ''Qualified Industrial Zones are important in respect of technology transfer and drawing foreign capital.'' Ziyal said that United States Trade Representative (USTR) and Foreign Trade Undersecretariat officials would come together within one month about this issue. ''Hopefully we will adopt a law on this issue and it will be very useful,'' said Ziyal.
When journalists reminded that some American investors had lack of trust regarding energy issue in Turkey, Ziyal pointed out that Turkey implemented a new reform programme. Ziyal stressed that it was not possible to maintain some of those tenders. ''The solution will be a mid-way, we will either purchase all of those investments, or they will accept changing some of the conditions. But the thing that matters is our accepting the view that we will reach a compromise and our starting activities to reach compromise.''
Ziyal said that they were also in consensus with the U.S. about not delaying Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline despite the new developments in Georgia, adding that the support and efforts of the U.S. side to finish the BTC on time would continue.
Ziyal stressed that Kirkuk-Yumurtalýk pipeline also came to agenda during the meetings, adding that the pipeline should be active and safe. The U.S. side brought some proposals to this end and Turkey would make preparations about its own contributions.
Ziyal pointed to his meetings with other U.S. officials as well as his meetings on economy, and recalled that he met with U.S. State Department Undersecretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman. Ziyal said they had the opportunity to hold political consultations which were regularly made between the two ministries once in 3-4 months. He said the talks would continue during the visit of Grossman to Turkey next week.
Stating that they discussed Iraq with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Ziyal said more structural and regular visits would take from now on regarding Iraq. He said the talks would take place in centers, Ankara and in Washington. Ziyal said the talks would also take place between the U.N. delegations and the most important would take place in Baghdad. ''We felt that this deficiency was very serious. They also shared our views and we took such a decision.''
Ziyal said U.S. officials shared the view that Turkey could not take the investments it deserved in direct foreign investments, noting that U.S. prepared a report searching for the reasons of this and gave this report to Turkey. Ziyal said studies would be started to evaluate this report and to improve direct investment to Turkey.
Ziyal also stressed that American Eximbank allocated a fund to support initiatives of Turkish contractors in Iraq, which had U.S. links, and for the goods that would be exported from U.S. to Turkey.
Ziyal said OPIC, a U.S. institution supporting overseas investments, allocated 1.6 billion U.S. dollars fund to expend support to small and medium scale enterprises (SMSEs), stating that apart from this Department of Treasury had a fund worth of 850,000 U.S. dollars to train and support SMSEs in Turkey.
Ziyal said they briefed U.S. officials about the stage reached in economic reform program, noting that they wanted U.S. support to continue.
Stating that they agreed with U.S. officials that Turkish economy gained a specific strength, Ziyal said markets overcame the shock caused by the terrorist attacks.
Ziyal also addressed Washington Institute. Stating that attacks in Istanbul were indications that several specific elements in the region did not like Turkey's policies, Ziyal said, ''we are on the right side of the hedge and we will stay there. Terrorism will not be able to change our policies.''
Ziyal said the attacks aimed at progress of a Muslim country toward modernism and the joint values which Turkey shared with the west.
Expressing pleasure over attitude of Syria in extraditing 22 people to Turkey, Ziyal said, ''I hope this will be a trend for the other countries in international efforts to fight against terrorism.''
Ziyal said they were not pleased over attitude of European Union (EU) against terrorism, noting that those who staged terrorist attacks could comfortably live in European countries, stressing that those countries failed to take measures although Turkey informed them about the names of those people.
Ziyal said Turkey's relations with its neighbors were different today when compared with six years ago, yet noted that what changed was not Turkey but its neighbors. Ziyal pointed to improving relations with Syria, Iran, Bulgaria, and Greece.
Stressing that Turkey considered its future in the EU and determined to fulfill the criteria, Ziyal said Turkey was not in a position to make a choice between U.S. and the EU, noting that Turkey wanted the best sides of the two worlds.
Replying to a question that bomb attacks in Turkey prevented attraction of foreign investments, Ziyal said, ''Aren't there any foreign investments in the United States? Isn't there any terrorist attack here?''
Ziyal said the attacks did not shake Turkey in economic sense, and did not affect trade, adding that, ''threat of terrorism in Turkey is not more than the threat in other countries. If you ask me the threat in western countries is more.''
(ÖÞ-AY-AÖ) 05.12.2003