The German Presidency will hold the EU Informal Foreign Ministers meeting (Gymnich)in Bremen on 30-31 March 2007.

A working lunch including the Foreign Ministers of the candidate countries will be held on 31 March 2007.

Due to his busy work program, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül will not be able to attend the said luncheon. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan will be representing Turkey on this occasion.

The “Gymnich” meetings, which are so named after the Gymnich Chateau in Germany where the first meeting in this kind was held in 1974, take place during the tenure of each Presidency. At these meetings a number of current issues concerning general and foreign relations of the EU are discussed in an informal manner.

The topic of this working lunch, where Turkey will also be present, will be relations with Iran.

As a negotiating country, Turkey at specific intervals and occasions exchanges views with EU member states on regional and international issues.

These meetings provide the opportunity for Turkey, an important actor in its region, to convey its views and positions to the EU member states on regional and international issues.