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After Prime Minister Erdoğan’s ‘One Minute’ crisis at the 2009 Davos meeting, the World Economic Forum has now decided to come to Istanbul. Speaking at the opening for the forum with 1,100 attendees, Erdoğan stated, “Turkey has become an island of trust in the region.”
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Three years ago Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan walked away from the World Economic Forum, stating, "I will never return to Davos". This year he has returned, however the World Economic Forum came to Istanbul.
TURKEY IS AN EXAMPLE
Explaining that they have avoided every move that could harm stability and security, Erdoğan stated, "We didn't permit populism nor did we make any concessions on fiscal discipline."
The Prime Minister went on to state that Turkey's experience is one that could act as an example for countries in the region and Europe as well as all nations suffering from the financial crisis. "Even if during the 2009 economic crisis there may have been a slight regression, all of our economic indicators have now surpassed the levels they were at prior to the crisis.
Despite the ongoing crisis, Turkey has displayed an extremely positive performance in terms of exports, growth, tourism revenue, direct investments, balancing the budget and borrowing interest." The Prime Minister went on to state that the 23.5 billion dollar IMF loan Turkey had in 2002 has been brought down to 1.7 billion dollars, "by April, 2013 Turkey's IMF debt will have been completely zeroed out."
1,100 PARTICIPANTS
A total of 1,100 participants from 70 countries register to attend the forum. High level representatives from 50 different nations were in attendance. During sessions, 650 national and foreign representatives from the business world and 180 high level administrators will be speaking. The World Economic Forum's Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia Summit was a first in terms of encompassing the largest geographical region for a special summit.
Prime Minister Erdoğan attended the summit because it was held in Istanbul, otherwise he has refrained from attending a Davos summit since the 2009 'One minute' incident.
Schwab: Turkey has its own place…
WEF Founder and Chairman Klaus Schwab "Turkey has its own place. Turkey is the most east point of the west and the most west point of the east. Prime Minister Erdoğan has acted as an intermediary.
Moderator unable to pass through security
The moderator for the World Economic Forum session three years ago, which brought Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli President Shimon Peres together, journalist David Ignatius also attended the Istanbul summit. After its closing, Ignatius attempted to approach Prime Minister Erdoğan; however he was unable to cross through his security detail, even though the two came eye to eye.
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Source : english.sabah.com.tr
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