Erdogan DUE in Spain next week for bilateral summit

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Madrid next week to attend Monday's second Turkey-Spain summit. Under an agreement between Erdogan and his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to hold annual regular meetings between the two governments, nine cabinet ministers, including the health and foreign ministers, are expected to accompany Erdogan. In addition to Zapatero, Erdogan will meet with leading Spanish politicians, businessmen and representatives from the media and think-tanks. He is expected to discuss such subjects as bilateral relations, regional and international issues, the European Union, Turkey's EU negotiation process, and Turkey's expectations of Spain's current six-month EU presidency. Following his talks in Madrid, Erdogan will proceed to Seville to accept the Seville NODO Prize for his key role in the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, which he and Zapatero co-chair.