ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey came the first in terms of growth rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
Responding to questions of journalists after the Eurochambers executive board meeting in Istanbul, Erdogan said that convention of the Eurochambers leaders in Istanbul was important both for Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and also for Turkey.
Erdogan said that they had the opportunity of discussing both the cooperation of Eurochambers with Turkey and the economic parameters of Turkey in the meeting. Erdogan stressed that Eurochambers also praised the economic developments in Turkey and said it was ready to support Turkey.
Referring to the economic growth in Turkey, Erdogan said that ''when you look at the average growth rate in the past three years, you see that it was 8 percent. Turkey has also good export figures and we will also reach our targets in exports this year.''
Erdogan remarked that there was also a significant decrease in Turkey's debt stock, stressing that interest rates should fall and the government's target was to decrease the interest rates below 10 percent.
Erdogan also referred to the positive developments in tourism and said that the target of Turkey was to host 20 million tourists this year.