PARIS (AA) - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council meeting on ``Enabling Globalization`` ended in Paris on Wednesday.
     Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen brought problems of Turkish exporters onto agenda of the meeting.
     During his meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, Tuzmen expressed problems that Turkish exporters face especially in textile sector and he wanted the EU to be sensitive towards those problems.
     Tuzmen said that Turkey opens its markets to everybody on a large scale, adding that Turkish exporters should be protected against unjust competition.
     Tuzmen said that Turkey almost adjusted its regulations on foreign trade and customs with EU regulations. He added, ``while we are liberalizing trade, we have to protect our domestic industry against unjust competition.``
     Tuzmen told reporters that during the meetings, Istanbul Declaration which was initiated by Turkish textile sector was brought onto agenda and more than 50 countries supported this initiative.
     Tuzmen said, ``among World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries, Turkey is one of the leading countries in terms of exports performance.``
     ``Turkey increased its trade volume from 87 billion USD in 2002 to 160 billion USD in 2004. We expect it to reach 180 billion USD as of 2005,`` added Tuzmen.
    
     - FINAL STATEMENT -
    
     Growth in OECD countries should accelerate later this year but oil prices and current accounts and fiscal imbalances pose risks, OECD ministers said in the final statement of the meeting.
     ``Economic growth should regain momentum later this year and become balanced across countries. Some tensions and risks persist. A prominent one pertains to oil prices,`` the statement said.
     The statement cited current account gaps, large fiscal deficits and possibly overstretch valuations in some asset markets as among the imbalances that posed such risks.
     ``While the imbalances may well unwind smoothly, including via some exchange rate adjustments, some turbulence cannot be ruled out,`` it said.
     (GC-MS)
2005-05-04