Nearly 200 attendants, including YASED members, foreign mission representatives, the executives of various NGOs, bureaucrats and a good number of businessmen participated in the luncheon organized by YASED on 13 February 2008 in Istanbul.

In his opening speech YASED Chairman Tahir Uysal said, “We are aware of, and support the measures taken by the Government against unregistered economy. Yet we still have expectations in connection with the implementations that have to follow these constructive steps.” Following this address, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Zafer Çağlayan, who participated in the luncheon as the Guest of Honor made a speech on “Turkey's Industrial Strategy and the New Term Industrial Policies”.

In his speech Minister Çağlayan informed YASED members on many issues, ranging from the 2023 goals of the Government, to the new industrial policy, to works on the industrial inventory, and to works under plan on incentives. Çağlayan also underlined the problems concerning employment and closed his speech with a stress on the Government’s full EU membership objective before switching to a Q&A session with YASED members.