TURKISH DAILY NEWS – 17 SEPTEMBER 2003-09-25
Spanish industrialists back Turkey’s European Union membership
ANKARA – Soanish industrialists back Turkey’s full membership to the European Union, expressing their will to cooperate with Turkish companies in the third countries.
Visiting Turkey for the Turkey-Spanish Business Council’s annual meeting, which was held yesterday in Istanbul, Spanish Industrialists Confederation Foreign Promotion Committee Chairman Juan Canals said that Spain attached special importance to Turkey as a technological and industrial partner.
Canals said that Spanish enterpreneurs were supporting Turkey’s full membership to the EU in the future, emphasizing that they were willing to cooperate with the Turkish companies in the third countries.
Spanish Ambassador in Ankara, Manuel de la Camara said at the meeting that Turkish – Spanish economic relations gained pace in the past six years, praising Turkish economic improvement.
Camara said Turkey has the biggest economy among those EU candidates, believing that economic conditions would improve further in Turkey.
Addressing the meeting, Turkish-Spanish Business Council Co-Chairman Zeynel Abidin Erdem said that there were only 52 Spanish firms running businesses in Turkey, adding that they aimed to improve the economic cooperation between both countries.
Erdem said that a conference named, “Investment Opportunities in Turkey” conference, would be held in Madrid on November 4, adding that this conference aimed to promote Turkey to Spanish investments.