President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy.
Bilateral relations and regional matters were discussed during the talk, which was held at the request of Prime Minister Draghi of Italy.
President Erdoğan stated that they expected Italy, a NATO ally, to reciprocate the importance Ankara attaches to relations with Rome.
During the talk, President Erdoğan expressed that the bilateral trade volume reached 13 billion dollars in the first seven months of 2021 and surpassed its pre-pandemic level, adding that if they accelerated this momentum, the 30-billion-dollar target could be easily achieved.
Underlining his conviction that Italy's robust principled support for the development of Türkiye-EU relations and the accession process would endure, President Erdoğan said that it was in everyone's interest to launch negotiations on updating the Customs Union as soon as possible and without any preconditions, and that the March 18 Agreement needed to be updated in a holistic manner.
During the talk, President Erdoğan further stated that with the Taliban seizing control of Afghanistan, a new situation emerged on the ground, and that engagement with the Taliban should be maintained in terms of delivering humanitarian aid, or else the migration pressure, which had already heightened, would worsen.
Expressing their support for timely elections in Libya, President Erdoğan emphasised that Türkiye provided training and consultancy to legitimate security forces upon the request of Libya and on the basis of bilateral agreements.
Prime Minister Draghi of Italy invited President Erdoğan to the G20 Leaders’ Summit to be held in Rome in October under the presidency of Italy.