No serious differences between Turkey, IMF, talks continue - min

The technical talks between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are continuing, Nazim Ekren said at a meeting at the think-tank Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

"Whenever they are concluded, our friends will make a statement," he added.       �

Turkey and the Fund suspended face-to-face talks in February citing the "unacceptable demands of the Fund." The Turkish government had said, the IMF's demands of handing autonomy to the Revenue Administration, pressing taxpayers to declare the source of their income, and the cancellation of a law transferring funds to municipalities, are unacceptable.

The business community sees the IMF and its financial resources as essential for Turkey as the country's public debt is expected to be around $50 billion in 2009.

BOOSTING RELATIONS
Ekren, the first high-level Turkish executive to visit Washington since U.S. President Obama took office, also said that he was in the country to strengthen strategic cooperation and partnership.

"I am here to explain to the new U.S. administration Turkey's potential and assess the approach of the new administration," he said adding that his aim was to meet the new economic management team of the United States, and to discuss the relationship between the global financial crisis and emerging markets."

The Turkish economy, which increasingly feels the impact of the global financial crisis, recorded only 0.5 percent growth in the third quarter of 2008, the lowest since Turkey emerged from a financial crisis in 2001. The growth rate is expected to be flat in 2008, while an economic contraction is forecast for 2009.

The minister said Turkey would be a $1 trillion economy within two or three years, and that it had a young population, with a high domestic demand and good relations with neighboring and surrounding countries. Turkey should make use of these good relations in an economic sense, and there were many areas in which Turkey and the United States could cooperate, he added.

Ekren is also expected to meet representatives of the IMF and the World Bank as well as U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner.