Brussels, 05/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - European Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik is to make his first official visit to Turkey on 6 to 8 September. While there, he will give a speech at a conference on European Technology Platforms in Ankara on 7 September. He will also visit the Gebze Marmara Research Centre and meet with representatives of the Turkish business and science and research community in Istanbul on 8 September. He will also meet with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener. Turkey's participation in the current and future framework programmes for research and the development of national research policies will be the main themes of the visit. Potocnik's visit is the very last of a series that he has carried out in countries taking part in the membership process or likely to be applying for membership sometime in the future. After having recently visited Serbia and Bulgaria, he will be in Romania next week, and, by the end of the year, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.