ISTANBUL - Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan for economy said on Saturday that the progress report (made public by the European Commission last Wednesday) was in line with expectations, and noted that it was a historic milestone.
Babacan returned to Turkey after he completed his meetings in the United States and Germany.
At the airport, Babacan told reporters that there was great interest in Turkey in all the meetings he attended, and said that it seemed that Turkey would attract more investors in coming days.
Babacan said that reforms would be speeded up in the following three years, and stated that those the economic program to be implemented in those years would be EU pre-accession economic program.
At the end of the following three years, Turkey would economically get closer to the EU, Babacan stressed.
Babacan said that all the world was closely interested in Turkey's EU accession process. Noting that first reactions to the report were very positive, Babacan said, ''in fact, we also expected a positive result. And, this report was in line with our expectations.''
(BRC) 09.10.2004