Turkish president holds phone call with Italy’s premier

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call Wednesday with the Italian prime minister, saying Turkey expects Italy, a NATO ally, to respond appropriately to the importance it attaches to bilateral relations.

Relations between the two countries and regional issues were discussed at the meeting held at Mario Draghi's request, according to the Turkish Communications Directorate.

Noting that the bilateral trade volume between the two countries in the first seven months of 2021 approached $13 billion and exceeded the level before the coronavirus pandemic, Erdogan said if they accelerate this momentum, they can easily reach the $30 billion target.

Erdogan emphasized that he believes Italy's principled support for the development of Turkey-EU relations and the membership process will continue strongly and added that it was in everyone's interest to start negotiations on the update of the Customs Union as soon as possible, without any preconditions.

He also stressed that with Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban, a new situation has arisen in the field and that engagement with the Taliban should be continued at the point of delivering humanitarian aid, as otherwise, the pressure on migration, which has already reached high levels, would increase even more.

Draghi invited Erdogan to the G20 Leaders' Summit to be held in Rome in October, which will be chaired by Italy.