He welcomed Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who came to Turkey on January 20 for a bilateral meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on the red carpet at the Vahdictina presidential palace in Istanbul. The face-to-face meeting lasted more than two hours for the prime minister’s first day in Turkey, where Meloni visited for the first time since leading the Italian government.
Agreement on immigrants
“Relations between the two partner countries and friends have been strengthened” with the promise that a cooperation agreement will soon be reached between Rome and Ankara regarding migration flows from Libya. As expected before the summit, the main theme that attracted Rome’s attention was strengthening migrant cooperation. Meloni and Erdogan, who shared the result of cooperation that last year achieved a 56 percent reduction in irregular flows in the Italy-Turkey corridor, also aim to conclude an agreement on the North African route: the relevant Foreign Ministries are known – they plan to conclude an agreement soon. The long meeting also allowed for the discussion of important global issues in the light of Italy’s G7 Presidency, with reference to the war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The economic bond between Rome and Ankara is strong. On the economic relations side, we started from observing the trade between Italy and Turkey, which exceeds 25 billion euros and is close to the goal of “reaching a trade volume of at least 30 billion by 2030” shared by the governments.
Thank you for the Ukrainian wheat brokerage
Considering Italy’s G7 presidency, there was no shortage of references to important global issues, especially the war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Meloni stated that he greatly appreciated Ankara’s continuous diplomatic mediation efforts, he touched upon the reactivation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to remove the obstacle to grain shipments from Ukrainian ports, especially after Russia did not renew the agreement last July.
Finally, the meeting represented an opportunity to exchange views on relations between the European Union and Turkey, in the light of the recent joint communication between the Commission and the EU High Representative. Meloni had held many meetings with Erdogan in recent months, on the sidelines of important international summits, most recently on the occasion of the COP 28 Conference held in Dubai last December 1. Before his meeting with the Turkish leader, Meloni visited the city’s largest and oldest market. “Come to Italy,” he said to shopkeepers and passersby.
Source: Today IT
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
