PN Member Herman De Croo Participates in EU-Turkey Parliamentary Exchange Visit

On their parliamentary exchange visit to Ankara from May 18 to 22, 2013 PN member Herman De Croo, Minister of State and Member of the House of Representatives of Belgium, and Belgian Senator Fatma Pehlivan met with Turkish government and parliamentary representatives for a series of dialogues focusing on European integration and harmonization.

The visit started with briefing sessions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, given by Ambassador Ümit Yalçin, Director General for the Middle East, and Ms.Kıvılcım Kiliç, Deputy Director General for Council of Europe and Human Rights.

Furthermore, the Belgian parliamentary delegation met with both representatives of the majority party in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti), and MPs from opposition parties such as the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

They also had extensive contacts with Turkish journalists, academics and high civil servants.

The visit is part of the “Parliamentary Exchange and Dialogue”, a joint project organized by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) and the European Union (EU), that aims at maximizing the role of the GNAT in the process of EU membership negotiations by promoting the dialogue between parliamentarians as well as political parties represented in the parliaments of the Member States and Turkey.

For more information on the “Parliamentary Exchange and Dialogue”, please visit their website.

Photo by diplomatie.be.