BERLIN - Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Ali Coskun has said that Turkey would completely fulfil the Maastricht criteria in 2007 or 2008.
Coskun attended a reception ''Get Together'' in the German Technique Museum in Berlin on Tuesday.
Speaking to Turkish reporters, Coskun said the European Union (EU) had almost 60 percent share in Turkey's foreign trade.
''Investments with all EU countries are increasing. We have three million citizens living in the EU countries. They have seven billion dollars of investments in these countries. So Turkey has already integrated with the EU. I suppose that we would join the EU soon after the negotiation process that will start on December 4. Because, we will fulfill all of the Copenhagen criteria by December. According to my calculation, we will completely fulfil the Maastricht criteria in 2007 or 2008,'' he said.
Regarding the Iraq issue, Coskun said that they had been sending Turkish businessmen to Iraq under umbrella of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges because Iraq was a neighboring country and Turkey and Iraq had relations that had root deep in history, adding that they had been trying to maintain humanitarian aid and commercial aid relations.
(MS) 25.05.2004