ANKARA
The third "Turkey-EU Political Dialogue Meeting" will be held in Istanbul on Thursday.
Turkish EU Minister & Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will attend the meeting on behalf of Turkey, while Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy and Commission Vice-President, and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule will be representing the EU side.
Turkey-EU relations, the Positive Agenda initiative launched between the two parties last month, visa question and latest developments in the Middle East, North Africa and Western Balkans will be on the agenda of the high-level gathering, said a statement from Turkey's EU ministry on Wednesday.
The latest Turkey-EU Political Dialogue Meeting was held in Brussels in March.
Turkey applies for associate membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1959. Turkey is a candidate country for EU membership following the Helsinki European Council of December 1999. Accession negotiations started in October 2005.
So far, only one chapter (science and research) has been provisionally closed. Twelve more have been opened, but eight remain blocked by France, Austria, Germany, and Greek Cypriot Administration.
