Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey has been conducting its talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by considering the country's interests.

Erdogan, currently in London to attend G-20 summit, delivered a speech at Chatham House Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs on "Global Economic Crisis and Turkey".

In regard to the talks with the IMF, Premier Erdogan said, "we expect that positive developments will take place in the following period. We will make a schedule for the talks soon."

Many countries have been fighting against unemployment and Turkey did so, Erdogan said. "We will do the best that we can. We will keep taking steps that will relieve our people," he said.

"Turkish government has taken several measures against global economic crisis. Turkish Central Bank has been taking several steps assisting the markets. It also attaches great importance to preservation of foreign currency liquidity," he said.

Erdogan said his government speeded up infrastructure investments and extended the period of incentives for employment of youths and women.

The amount of global direct investments in Turkey was 22 billion U.S. dollars in 2007 and it reached 18 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2008 despite global economic crisis, he said. "Turkey is a safe heaven for investments and no one should doubt it," he said.

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Güncelleme Tarihi: 03 Nisan 2009, 15:05