29.04.2025 19:40
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made important statements at the Turkey-Italy Business Forum held in Italy. Speaking about the problems related to visas, Erdoğan stated, "I believe it would be beneficial for both sides if Italian business circles bring this issue to the attention of European Union institutions."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made important statements at the Turkey-Italy Business Forum held in Rome, the capital of Italy.
Speaking about the problems experienced with visas, Erdoğan stated, "We see that the difficulties our business community faces regarding visas hinder our economic relations. I believe it would be beneficial for both sides if Italian business circles bring this issue to the attention of European Union institutions," he said.
President Erdoğan's statements included the following remarks:
I would like to thank Mr. Meloni once again for his kind hospitality in your presence. The intergovernmental summit mechanism that we held for the first time in our country in 2008 has contributed to significant progress in the multidimensional political relations between our countries, as well as in the economy, over the time that has passed.
The initiatives of you, our esteemed business people, have played a significant role in this success. I wholeheartedly believe that you will take this partnership to higher levels in the upcoming period. Valuable guests, we are going through a period where more protectionism and closing within borders are being discussed in the economy. We are all following the mutual standoffs experienced through customs tariffs. We are striving to manage this dynamic atmosphere successfully for our country's economy, even turning it into an opportunity.
"WE TRUST THE TURKISH ECONOMY"
We emerged from similar processes in the past, including the coronavirus pandemic, without being harmed. I believe we will demonstrate the same success today, and we trust the Turkish economy. As a result of our geographical position, which connects the West to the East and the North to the South, we place great importance on establishing effective economic and commercial partnerships in our region and the world. I would like to express today with great satisfaction that the Turkish economy continues to grow despite the conflicts, wars, and the disaster of the century, the earthquake, that we experienced in 2023.
The direct cost of the earthquake to the Turkish economy is $104 billion, and the indirect cost reaches $150 billion. Nevertheless, we are quickly healing our wounds. We are making steady progress towards our goals in the economy, production, employment, investment, tourism, and defense industry. In the time since the earthquake, we have delivered the keys to more than 201,000 homes to citizens whose houses were destroyed. By the end of the year, we aim to build an additional 252,000 homes, and hopefully, we will have overcome this heavy burden. While erasing the traces of the disaster of the century, we continue our initiatives in the economy without slowing down. In 2024, we broke the record of the last 100 years in exports with $262 billion. Our defense industry exports, one of the strongest sectors of our country, reached the highest level in history at $7 billion 154 million. We are among the few countries that have been able to achieve an average annual growth rate of around 5% over the last 20 years. Again, in the last 20 years, we have invested nearly $300 billion in infrastructure.
"OUR EXPORTS INCREASED MORE THAN 20 TIMES IN 20 YEARS"
Our exports increased more than 20 times in 20 years. We doubled our share of world exports. In the last 20 years, we attracted nearly $270 billion in international direct investment. The number of foreign capital companies in Turkey increased from 6,000 to over 80,000. We have entered a process of permanent and significant decline in inflation that affects the whole world.
"WE ARE IMPLEMENTING OUR ECONOMIC PROGRAM WITH DETERMINATION"
We are implementing our economic program with determination. We will not take a step back from this, God willing. We are determined to improve the investment environment and to implement new structural reforms. When we look specifically at Italy, we see that despite all global challenges, our bilateral trade has been on a continuous upward trend since the coronavirus pandemic. Our trade volume, which was at $17.3 billion in 2020, is expected to nearly double to exceed $32 billion by 2024.
Today, the Italian capital in Turkey, including indirect investments, amounts to $5 billion, while Turkish capital in Italy has approached $1 billion, showing significant progress in recent years. Just as Turkish companies see Italy as a gateway to the European market, we would like Italian companies to view Turkey as a gateway to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. A population of 2 billion can be reached within just a few hours of flight from Istanbul. Our Turkish Airlines connects 9 cities in Italy to Istanbul. This tremendous potential, which encompasses trade, investment, and transportation opportunities, encourages us to set ambitious and bold goals. With this in mind, at today's summit, we have set our new trade volume target at $40 billion together with Mr. Meloni.
The discussions and new partnerships established by our business circles today will contribute to reaching our new trade target in a short time. Of course, increasing mutual investments remains another priority goal for us. We want to see more investors in Turkey, which has become a center of attraction in the region and the world, in addition to the existing 1,500 Italian companies.
We have decided that it would be in our interest to increase our joint efforts to take our share of the expected expansion in the security and defense sector in Europe. Likewise, we need to develop strategic partnerships in areas such as green energy, digital technologies, smart cities, and space.
As governments, we will continue to support our companies to elevate our trade and investment relations to higher levels. However, as you will appreciate, economic cooperation does not develop solely through the efforts of governments. Our business community needs to take the initiative in this regard. The ones who will truly develop cooperation are primarily you. We have removed barriers and will continue to do so. We have always been encouraging and will continue to be so. We wish our business circles to proceed resolutely on the paths we have opened. I would like to express my gratitude to the Italian government for the incentives and interest shown to our businessmen through Prime Minister Mr. Meloni. I want you to know that in the face of any problem, both my door and the doors of my ministerial colleagues will always be wide open.
VISA CALL: BRING IT TO THE AGENDA
The 3rd Term Meeting of the Turkey-Italy Economic and Trade Joint Committee, which we will hold before the end of 2025, will also be particularly important in this regard. Valuable participants, we feel the need to update our Customs Union with the European Union in accordance with changing global economic conditions to reach the potential of our commercial and economic relations. We expect the support of the Italian government and business circles for an update that will benefit both sides with a win-win approach. On the other hand, we see that the difficulties our business community faces regarding visas hinder our economic relations. I believe it would be beneficial for both sides if Italian business circles bring this issue to the attention of European Union institutions.
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