NEWS FROM TÜRKİYE

The New Anatolian - Turkish Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan promised to continue fulfilling structural reforms in 2008, saying, "Türkiye has to fulfill Social Security Reform to save its future." Participating a panel discussion on economy in Eskisehir over the weekend, Unakitan said "Türkiye will continue to grow in 2008 too. Although the growth rate slowed down recently, it is normal." "Türkiye created 3 million employment in non-agriculture sector," he said. "There is a transition period in Türkiye. Some sectors are changing. Agriculture tops these changing sectors. Agriculture sector in the United States is 2.5 percent. When Justice & Development (AK) Party came into rule, agriculture sector in Türkiye was 35 percent; now it dropped to 26 percent. This will continue to drop. Population in agriculture sector will decrease. This is a normal development. There is a huge movement from agriculture sector to non-agriculture sectors." Unakitan said that they will continue to adopt EU adjustment laws in the new year, adding that these laws will have big contributions to human rights, economy and democratization process in Türkiye. Evaluating past years Unakitan said "Turkish economy recorded great progress in the last five years. It integrated with global economy in the last five years." Recalling the economy's bad condition in the beginning of 2000s, he said "today Türkiye has big targets for year 2023."