Regional Leaders Gather in Istanbul

Istanbul is hosting the three-day Bosporus Regional Cooperation Summit starting today, a broad regional partnership event, frequently referred as "the alternative Davos" in the media reports. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to take his inauguration speech three years after he said farewell to the original Davos meetings in Switzerland. The summit, organized by the International Cooperation Platform (ICP), is an element of the Turkish government's aspirations to turn Istanbul into one of the world's leading financial hubs by 2023. The main theme of this year's event will be "Regional Change and Development." The summit will bring together statesman, businessmen and academics from 41 countries that will hold round table discussionsand industry panels to come up with new strategies and alternative outlooks. The keynote topic will be the future of international relations and regional opportunities in the new decade. This will be followed with panels on diverse issues such as energy supply security, renewable energy and green economy, construction and real estate, transportation and logistics, banking and finance, tourism and health tourism, telecommunications and information technologies as well as food security. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, Urbanization Minister Erdogan Bayraktar, Turkey's Central Bank Gov. Durmus Yılmaz, President of the of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) Tevfik Bilgin, as well as top government representatives from Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Jordan and Qatar are among the distinctive speakers at the summit. Top executives from the private sector will also participate. Turkish President Abdullah Gul will also participate in the closing ceremonies. The ICP was established as an independent non-profit organization pioneering initiative based in Istanbul to develop economic, political and cultural relationships between Turkey and the countries of the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and the Balkans.