French president invites Erdogan to mediterranean union summit

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday telephoned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to invite him to this weekend's Union for the Mediterranean Summit in Paris. Erdogan told the French president that he would consider attending the summit if his heavy schedule due to the country's domestic agenda allows him. Turkey has said it would consider being part of the Sarkozy-proposed union only if it is not a substitute for European Union membership. In related news, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, currently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to attend a meeting of the Developing Eight Countries (D-8), said, "Our colleagues were there last week during work on the final declaration of the Union for the Mediterranean Summit." He added, "Important changes were made to the final declaration. Many components that Turkey sought were put into the final declaration. But a technical delegation will go to Paris on (Saturday) July 12, the day before the summit, and attend the last session on the final declaration. There are a number of components and there will be meetings on them, but there have been important changes up to now."