ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Thursday, ''the State Planning Organization (DPT) is one of our institutions which will make very important contributions to Turkey's EU negotiation process.''
Releasing a written statement, Gul expressed his regret over some wrongful news stories about technical correspondence among relevant institutions over the negotiation process between Turkey and the EU.
''Our government attributes great importance to the relations with the EU. Also, all ministries, institutions and organizations have been expending joint efforts to this end. Prior to the EU Summit on December 17th in which the EU decided to open entry talks with Turkey, all those institutions have carried out pre-studies. We will assess them as a whole in the coming days,'' he said.
Gul noted, ''DPT conducted an inventory analysis about Turkey's expert potential. DPT is one of our institutions which will make very important contributions to Turkey's EU negotiation process. Our efforts to form a structure to carry out the negotiation process with the EU have been continuing. Roles of institutions will be determined to this end in the coming days. We will not allow any attempt to hamper coordination and harmony among those institutions.''
Earlier, some news reports claimed that DPT had been launching several initiatives to play a key role in the negotiation process, and that Gul had sent a letter to State Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener to recall that the only authorized institution was Turkey's Secretariat General for the EU.
(UK-MS)
2004-12-30