ROME
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the trade volume between Turkey and Italy had reached 21.3 billion USD.
Holding a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti within the scope of Turkey-Italy Summit in Rome, Erdogan said that first summit took place in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir nearly 2.5 years ago.
This summit is very important, thus, we participated in the summit with seven ministers from Turkey, added Erdogan.
We have discussed commercial, economic and political relations as well as recent regional and international developments during the summit, he said.
Noting that the economic cooperation between Turkey and Italy was very important, Erdogan said that 913 Italian companies were operating in Turkey.
We would also be pleased with cooperation of Turkish and Italian companies in third countries, he said.
Erdogan also stressed the support extended by Italy in Turkey's EU membership process.
We also mutually expressed our concerns and sensitivities regarding counter-terrorism, said Erdogan, adding that cooperation in fight against terrorism and organized crimes was very important to strengthen the existing cooperation between Turkey and Italy.
Italy confirms its support to Turkey's EU bid
On the other hand, a joint declaration issued at the end of the summit confirmed Italy's support to Turkey's EU bid.
The first intergovernmental summit was held in western province of Izmir on November 12, 2008 and the second one took place in Italian capital of Rome on Tuesday.
A statement by Turkish Prime Ministry said that during the meeting between Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Italy's support to Turkey's EU accession process has been confirmed in a determined way.
The declaration said that Turkish party expressed pleasure over easiness provided to Turkish businessmen by Italian diplomatic missions in Turkey.
It said Italy would launch works in the EU on adoption of a joint visa policy on a visa liberalization for Turkish citizens.
(Reporting by Kadir Karakus)
