Ankara, March 30, 2005 –World Bank’s Turkey Country Office together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Republic organized today a one-day workshop to review and discuss international experience of strategic leadership issues before and after the EU accession, and its relevance for Turkey. The Seminar was attended by senior Turkish Government Officials from various Ministries and Agencies. The Seminar opened with the speeches of Deputy PM and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdullah Gül; Minister of State for Economic Affairs, Mr. Ali Babacan; and World Bank Country Director for Turkey, Mr. Andrew Vorkink. Following the introduction and overview of Turkey’s EU accession, three international senior leaders from Ireland, Poland and Portugal made presentations about selected aspects of the EU accession process from their countries perspective. In his presentation on the "Irish Experience", former Minister Alan Dukes touched upon issues related to the EU accession and politics at home; the importance of taking and implementing difficult political decisions, managing expectations, and advised on how various government agencies can and should work together. The "Polish Experience" presented by Mr. Krysztof Ners former Deputy Minister of Finance and responsible for many of the crucial policy areas that led up to Poland’s joining the EU in 2004, focused on issues such as managing financial relations with the EU during the accession process, making best use of EU funding, and policies to adjust the financial sector during EU accession. Mr. Francisco Torres, former Member of the Parliament and former Chief Economic Advisor at the Finance Ministry in Portugal (1992-93) when Portugal created the conditions to embark on European Monetary Union, presented the "Portugese Experience", in which he highlighted EU accession and policies to promote development, what EU and other external players could do, and what does the research tell us about policies to promote economic development issues. In the working group sessions, participants had the opportunity to exchange views with the presenters and peers from other Turkish agencies. The workshop closed with a plenary discussion summarizing the main findings of the day and seek guidance on the scope and content of any further workshops of this kind. This workshop was first of the series organized by the World Bank, with the aim to support Turkey’s preparation get prepared for the accession negotiations. In his welcoming remarks, Andrew Vorkink, Country Director stated: "Through workshops like this one on Strategic Leadership, the World Bank is bringing the experiences of EU members to Turkey to help prepare Turkey for the negotiations process ahead. Lessons learned by other countries about EU Accession and membership will be useful during the accession process". Related Links: 1- Welcoming Remarks of Mr. Andrew Vorkink, Country Director, World Bank Turkey Office 2- Presentation made by Mr. Alan Dukes, Director General, Institute of European Affairs AlanDukesEnglishPresentation.pdf (28KB) 3- Presentation made by Mr. Krzysztof Ners, Vice-Governor, Council of Europe Development Bank KrzysztofNersEnglishPresentation.pdf (96KB) 4- Presentation made by Francisco Torres, FranciscoTorresEnglishPresentation.pdf (48KB) |
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