The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and the Embassy of Republic of Bulgaria in Turkey created a platform to observe the Bulgarian experience during the EU accession process by inviting the masterminds of the process from Bulgaria.
A round-table meeting called "Bulgaria in the European Union - Challenges and Prospects: Sharing Experience with Turkey" took place on November 15, 2007 at TEPAV, with the kind participation of the Bulgarian Minister for EU Affairs Mrs. Gergana Grancharova.
Following the opening remarks by TEPAV's Managing Director, Güven Sak, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Turkey and Chairman of the Parliamentary EU Harmonization Committee, Yaşar Yakış drew an optimistic frame regarding EU harmonization.
During the meeting sessions, Managing Director of Business Development Foundation Mrs. Antonina Stoyanovska and Member of the Board of the National Association for Foreign Relations, Mr. Vladimir Pavlov made presentations on Bulgarian transformation from centralized economy to market economy. Mr. Evgueniy Ivanov, Executive Director of Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria explained how structural reform took place in the country as well as the difficulties that private sector faced during the implementation of EU acquis.
Mrs. Svetla Kostadinova who is the Executive Director of Institute for Market Economics in Bulgaria drew the attention to the transformation of the country along with Mrs. Ulyana Bogdanska, Deputy Director for EU Affairs from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. Head of Department, Mrs. Dimana Sadonkova Ministry for Regional Development brought up the cross-border cooperation opportunites between Turkey and Bulgaria.
Mr. H. Baha Karabudak from TEPAV addressed the concluding remarks. Mr. Karabudak talked about the challenges of Turkey- EU relations and priorities of Turkish economy in the line with second generation reforms.