No: 4, 6 January 2017

The Ambassadors Conference, organized on regular basis by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2008, will be held this year on 8-14 January in Ankara with the participation of Turkey’s Ambassadors serving at home and abroad.

The theme of the Ninth Ambassadors Conference has been defined as “Towards 2023: National Values and Global Goals”.

The annual Ambassadors Conference will review the events that are of concern to our foreign policy in the light of recent experiences; discuss current challenges and opportunities and evaluate our priorities for the upcoming period.

Within this framework, the Ambassadors will visit H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey, and Prime Minister H.E. Binali Yıldırım to receive their instructions. During the sessions of the Conference, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers will address our Ambassadors, who will also hold consultations with the representatives of the Turkish business world.

Moreover, the Ambassadors will pay a visit to the veteran Grand National Assemblyof Turkey,which became the target of the treacherous coup attempt defeated by national will on 15 July, 2016.

This year, H.E. George Vella, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malta, which assumed the Presidency of theEU,H.E. Mikheil Janelidze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, H.E. KhemaiesJhinaoui, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia, H.E. Timo Soini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Mr. Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration will participate in the Conference.

The fight against terrorism will also be one of the focus areas of the Conference.

At a panel on "Knowledge Economy and Diplomacy", to be organized within the scope of the Conference, a detailed exchange of views will take place concerning the contribution of foreign policy to the production of high technology in Turkey.

Another panel of the Conference entitled “Global Trends towards 2023” will deal with the geopolitical, political and economic dynamics that are expected to shape the upcoming period, with the participation of field experts.