ISTANBUL, Jan 31 (A.A) - Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) delegation visited the United States on Jan.29-30 in order to assess the point reached in Turkish-U.S. relations.
During their two day stay in the United States, the delegation which was headed by TUSIAD Deputy Chairman Mustafa Koc, met with U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfolitz, U.S. President's Afghanistan Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Deputy Foreign Trade Secretary Catherine Novelli, former U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Mark Parris, Deputy Secretary of State Earl Antony Wane and Congress member Tom Lantos' assistant Alan Makovski.
Mustafa Koc, Akin Ongor and Yilmaz Arguden delivered speeches at a think-tank called Heritage Foundation briefing the participants about the latest state of the Turkish economy.
Adding variety to commercial relations, alternatives, rebuilding of Afghanistan and what Turkish and Iraqi companies could do to preserve peace were the major topics of the meeting.
Koc said that their visit to the United States was very beneficial. ''It's very important to clearly define Turkey's goals, follow up certain matters with U.S. authorities and prepare very well for the upcoming meetings. Besides, significant amounts of funds have been put aside to rebuild Afghanistan; therefore, Turkish companies should use this opportunity well,'' he said.