Erdogan touts Turkey's progress, determination to foreign investors

Addressing the Fifth Investment Advisory Council meeting in Istanbul yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "Despite global and domestic obstacles, uncertainties, and resistance from some European countries, Turkey is determinedly continuing to pursue its reform efforts towards full European Union membership without any backtracking." Erdogan said that the government's economic reforms had made Turkey an attractive destination for foreign investments, attracting $22 billion in such investment last year, and added that thanks to those reforms, Turkey also had met an important Maastricht criterion on its budget deficit. Stressing that he places great importance on winning foreign investors' confidence, he said, "The government has strived to improve the atmosphere of stability and trust for foreign investors, and will continue to do so." Erdogan pledged that Turkey's fiscal discipline and monetary policy would continue without any concessions. Many senior representatives of multinational corporations attended the meeting.