Talks between Turkish and IMF officials on the new 3-year stand-by programme will resume today, according to the statements by the IMF and the Treasury. For the programme to be implemented in 2005-2007, the IMF officials started contacts on Sep 20, and met with state officials, as well as private sector representatives. Yet, talks were suspended at end-September due to the IMF-WB annual meetings. According to statements by Turkish officials, the discussions on new programme would last long, yet the new stand-by programme is aimed to be signed before Dec 17, when the EU leaders announce their decision on opening membership talks with Turkey.