He made the remarks at a meeting here with his German counterpart Juergen Trittin.

Pepe forecast it would take Turkey between 15 to 20 years to bring Turkish standards concerning environmental protection up to those in the EU bloc, a statement from the German environment ministry said.

The Turkish minister put the cost of such an effort at 35 billion eurosbillion dollars), and said he would use Germany as a model for upgrading Turkey's environmental standards.

"I am certain that the process of integrating Turkey into the European Union will allow progress in the area of environmental protection there," said Trittin.

TERRA.WIRE