Following the opening speeches, Mr. Egemen Bağış, Minister for European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator delivered a speech to the audience. Then, the 9th TÜSİAD Foreign Policy Prize was presented to Dr. Javier Solana. Dr. Solana accepted the prize with an address of thanks to the TÜSİAD members.
“TÜSİAD Bosphorus Prize for European Understanding”, is awarded each year to a citizen of European Union or a public or private institution of a European Union member country, for the contribution to the efforts undertaken to surmount politic, diplomatic, economic, social and cultural obstacles in front of Turkey’s integration with the European Union and to the development of the mutual understanding and common values between Turkey and European Union.
Award holders of “TÜSİAD Bosphorus Prize for European Understanding”:
2003 Dr. Dietrich von KYAW, Former ambassador of Germany to the European Union
2004 Mr. Thierry de MONTBRIAL, Founder Director of IFRI (French Institute of International Relations)
2005 Mr. Jack John Whitaker STRAW Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of United Kingdom
2006 Mr. Günter VERHEUGEN, Vice President of European Commission and former European Commissioner for Enlargement
2007 Mr. Carl BILDT, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden
2008 Ms. Emma BONINO, Vice President of the Senate of Italy
2009 Mr. Frank-Walter STEINMEIER, former Chief of the Chancellery and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany
2010 Dr. Arend OETKER, Chairman of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
2011 Dr. Javier SOLANA, former EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy