TURKEY CAUTIOUSLY SUPPORTIVE OF WTO

UNCLAS ANKARA 001548 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB/MTA APRATTIPATI DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR BNORTON AND MMOWREY COMMERCE FOR DPAREKH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ETRD PREL ECON WTRO TU SUBJECT: TURKEY CAUTIOUSLY SUPPORTIVE OF WTO REMANUFACTURING INITIATIVE REF: STATE 107233 ¶1. We delivered reftel talking points and background information to Halit Akcaglayan, WTO Affairs Department Head at the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat. Akcaglayan was already familiar with the issue and noted that Turkey has no problems in principle with the current proposed text and could support the initiative, although it may have some additional questions that it will route via the Turkish delegation in Geneva. He was interested in the exact definition of the term "remanufactured goods," but agreed that this could be accomplished once the actual initiative got underway. Akcaglayan noted that a delegation from Ankara would be heading to Geneva for various WTO committee meetings and he expected that they would also participate in the November 4 workshop on remanufacturing. ¶2. Akcaglayan also conveyed an initial request for a bilateral meeting between State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan and the head of the U.S. delegation at the WTO ministerial in December (with the assumption that this would be USTR Kirk). He noted that a formal request would be routed via official channels. JEFFREY "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"