President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke by phone with Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy.
Regional issues and steps to strengthen the Türkiye-Italy relations were discussed during the phone call, which took place ahead of the AK Party’s 7th Ordinary Grand Congress.
President Erdoğan offered his congratulations to Mr. Draghi on his new duty as prime minister.
Noting that the strengthening of the strategic partnership between the two countries will contribute to the stability and prosperity of their shared geography, President Erdoğan expressed his wish that the Third Türkiye-Italy Intergovernmental Summit may be held as soon as the pandemic conditions allow.
Reiterating Türkiye’s commitment to the goal of increasing the bilateral trade volume to 30 billion dollars, President Erdoğan said that the current momentum in defence industry should especially be maintained in this regard.
Stressing that full membership to the EU is a strategic goal for Türkiye, President Erdoğan expressed his belief that Italy will continue its strong support for Türkiye.
Pointing out that Italy and Türkiye have unfortunately been left alone in the migration crisis, President Erdoğan underlined the need for a fair sharing of responsibility and burden regarding the refugee issue.
In this regard, the March 18 Memorandum, signed five years ago, should be updated and doing so forms the basis of the positive agenda sought to be created in the Türkiye-EU relations, President Erdoğan stated, further stressing that it is essential for the updating process to be carried out with a holistic approach covering visa liberalization, updating the Customs Union and opening negotiation chapters.
Stating that Türkiye is in favour of stability and cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, President Erdoğan said that Türkiye supports the formation of a relationship of cooperation between two sovereign and equal states in Cyprus.