Eurasian meet a success, says Suver

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The fifteenth Eurasian Economic Summit proved that this century will be governed by civil society’s decisions, rather than states, President of the Marmara Group Foundation Akkan Suver said on the final day of the summit in Izmir.

“Continuousness is significant for an NGO. We have realized that our summits are improving in content every year. Turkish Parliament’s Speaker Cemil Çiçek, European Union Minister Egemen Bağış, nine foreign Presidents - four of them currently in office - 47 ministers and 269 officials, academics, scientists and think-tank representatives participated in the sessions,” Suver said.

The Chinese delegation’s last minute decision to attend simply to listen to the summit’s scheduled speakers surprised Suver.

“The vice-President of the Chinese Parliament and [multiple] ministers came to our summit for observation only, not to giving speeches. This means a lot for an NGO,” Suver said.

Suver thanked the İzmir Chamber of Commerce (İZTO) for hosting the sessions second day. Their support showed the fraternity between NGOs in Turkey, he said, adding that this was a great model for other co-operations to follow.

Benefits of the summit: Strengthening ties

Annual summits strengthen ties between societies while gathering officials and representatives of civil society together, Suver said, when asked about the benefits of the summit.

According to Suver both politicians and religious figures gathered during the summit. “This is a plus for Turkey. We need to see that this century will be in hands of civil society not states,” Suver said.
Suver also thanked the Daily News for its contribution to the summit.