Main opposition CHP hosts international economy workshop

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will host an international economy workshop in Istanbul on Dec. 8, where it will discuss the world economy with the participation of 40 high profile international economists.

“As Turkey’s main opposition party, we are closely following the economic, political and social developments in Turkey as well as in the world. We attach great importance to this workshop. We will discuss social democratic and universal solutions for the problems that the world economy has recently had,” CHP Deputy Chair Faik Öztrak told the Hürriyet Daily News on Dec. 6.

The workshop will be moderated by the former head of the United Nations Development Program, Kemal Derviş, who also served as economy minister after Turkey’s 2001 economic crisis.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who recently returned from a five-day U.S. trip, will also attend the event as the keynote speaker.

The main themes to be discussed at the round table discussions in the workshop are “The world economy,” “The conditions of fast growth,” and “Europe’s future.”

“The workshop will be like a brainstorming session of solutions for the problems of the world economy. We hope the workshop will yield strategic estimations about the world economy,” Öztrak said.

Pascal Lamy, former director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and honorary president of the Paris-based think tank Notre Europe; Javier Solana, former secretary general of NATO and European Union’s former high representative for common foreign and security policy; Anna Diamantopoulou, former European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities and former Greek Minister for Development, Competitiveness, and Shipping; and Swedish political scientist Joakim Palme, are among the workshop’s near 40 participants.

Karine Berger, a member of the French Parliament’s finance commission for the ruling Socialist Party; Branko Milanović, a Lead Economist in the World Bank research group; and former Tunisian Central Bank head Mustapha Nabli, will also participate in the workshop.