Gov't pledges TL 15 bln for development in southeastern Anatolia

Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan, the Economy Coordination Board (EKK) convened yesterday in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa with State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergun, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker, Labor and Social Security Minister Ömer Dincer, Environment and Forestry Minister Veysel Eroglu and State Minister Cevdet Yilmaz in attendance to discuss planned economic programs to improve welfare across the region in parallel with the government's democratic expansion initiative for the southeastern Anatolia. Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Babacan said the government places great importance on regional development programs to remove economic differences between parts of the country and to raise the living standards and the income level. Babacan recalled that the government had launched an action plan last year to speed up efforts to complete Turkey's biggest regional development program, the Southeast Anatolian Project, saying that the government was planning to invest TL 15 billion in the program by 2012. He said the construction of an airport in Batman province was expected to be completed next year, adding that a tender had also been launched for the construction of an airport in Sirnak. Babacan said the government had also initiated an economic incentive plan for southeastern Turkey in order to encourage private investments in nine provinces.