NEW YORK - Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan, who is currently in the United States to attend the spring term meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the meetings of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, partook in a breakfast hosted by the Turkish-American Business Forum in New York on Thursday.
State Minister Babacan delivered a speech at the breakfast and informed participants about economic, social and political reforms that Turkish government has fulfilled since it came into political power.
Stating that radical reforms have been fulfilled in Turkey for improvement of rights and freedoms, Babacan said that those reforms also complied with European Union (EU) criteria.
Babacan noted that no matter what result came out from referenda which would be held in Cyprus on April 24, Turkish government would continue to work on the path of EU.
Stressing that Turkish economy grew more than expected in 2003, he said that export and tourism incomes also increased. Babacan said that they received signals that the number of foreign tourists who would spend their holidays in Turkey in 2004 would rise by 20 percent and added that foreign people showed great interest in Turkey, as foreign press published positive news stories about the country.
Underlining that atmosphere of investment should be improved, he said that they removed obstacles in front of foreign investment with the Foreign Capital Law. He noted they reduced the number of procedures to establish a company from 19 to 3, and stated that 1.400 foreign companies have started to work in Turkey since June 2003 thanks to the law and arrangements.
Babacan highlighted that unemployment was one of most important problems of Turkey and stated that they did not use public institutions or State Economic Enterprises (KITs) to decrease 10 percent of unemployment. He noted that they were working to improve economic growth and employment through private sector and added that reasonable rate of unemployment was 5 percent for Turkey.
(EÖ-UK) 23.04.2004