As a candidate country of the European Union, Turkey (TR) is included in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS). The three NUTS levels are: * NUTS-1: 12 Regions (different from the 7 geographic regions) * NUTS-2: 26 Sub-regions * NUTS-3: 81 Provinces Currently, Turkey is establishing regional development agencies in 26 NUTS-2 regions. The objective underlying the foundation of development agencies is: * to develop cooperation between the public sector, private sector and non-governmental organisations, * to ensure proper and effective use of resources and mobilise local potential, thereby accelerate regional development in harmony with the principles and policies envisaged in the national development plan and programmes, * to ensure its sustainability; and to reduce inter and intra-regional development disparities.