ALGIERS - A Turkish state minister said on Friday that France and Spain presented "Union for the Mediterranean" as a project separate from Turkey`s European Union (EU) membership bid.
State Minister Mustafa Yazicioglu told AA correspondent that French and Spanish foreign ministers had assured Turkey that "Union for the Mediterranean" was not an alternative to Turkey`s EU full membership.
"They said that it is a separate project, and has nothing to do with Turkey`s EU membership," Yazicioglu said in Algeria where he participated in the Mediterranean Forum (FOROMED) foreign ministers` meeting.
Yazicioglu will attend a dinner hosted in his honor by Turkey`s Ambassador to Algeria Ahmet Necati Bigali later on Friday, and return to Turkey on Saturday.
The Mediterranean Forum (FOROMED) foreign ministers` meeting began in the Algerian capital of Algiers on Thursday. Ministers and high-level bureaucrats from Turkey, Slovenia, Algeria, Italy, Greece, France, Egypt, Spain, Malta, Portugal, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco participated in a working dinner.
The Mediterranean Forum is a platform of cooperation which was founded in 1994 by eleven Mediterranean countries including Algeria, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Greece, Tunisia and Turkey.
The presidency is rotated between the Mediterranean and EU countries. Turkey assumed the FOROMED presidency during the period of 2002-2003.
A "Barcelona Process-Union for the Mediterranean" meeting will take place in Paris, France on July 13th.
(BRC)