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Today, April 29, 2025, the summit between Meloni and Erdoğan in Rome
A new chapter in relations between Italy and Turkey opens on April 29, 2025 with the long-awaited bilateral summit between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hosted in the institutional setting of Villa Pamphili in Rome. The meeting, now in its fourth edition, promises to be a key moment to consolidate a rapidly growing economic partnership, but also to jointly address the main international geopolitical challenges. The summit, which will take place in the late morning, will be followed by an important business forum at the Hotel Parco dei Principi. 620 companies are expected to participate here – 345 Italian and 275 Turkish – demonstrating the strong mutual interest in strengthening industrial and commercial cooperation. The forum will offer the opportunity to sign over ten strategic trade agreements, in key sectors such as energy, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and defence.
At the heart of the summit, the strengthening of economic ties, at a particularly favorable time for bilateral trade. The numbers speak for themselves: in 2024, the volume of trade between the two countries reached 29.7 billion euros, with an increase of 15.2% compared to the previous year. Italian exports to Turkey recorded a growth of 24%, reaching 17.6 billion, while imports stood at 12 billion (+4.4%). The trade balance is positive for Italy, with a surplus of 5.5 billion euros. Rome thus confirms itself as Turkey’s first trading partner in the Mediterranean area and the second within the European Union, surpassing France and Spain. It is also the fourth supplier and the fifth destination market for Ankara, a sign of the strategic importance assumed by Italy in the Turkish economic context.
The meeting between the two leaders will be accompanied by a series of parallel events, including a plenary session dedicated to mutual investment opportunities. Representatives of Confindustria, Confapi and Confartigianato – together with their Turkish counterparts – will take part in a round table focused on the relaunch of Made in Italy and the attraction of Turkish capital in key sectors of the Italian economy. Speakers will also include the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, and the Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology, Mehmet Fatih Kacır. The initiative will be followed by a panel dedicated to financing instruments, with the participation of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Sace, Simest and their Turkish counterparts, with the aim of facilitating new joint projects.
Italian companies already play a leading role in Turkey. Their direct investments amount to 5.7 billion euros, compared to 1.1 billion of Turkish investments in Italy. The most active sectors are infrastructure – especially high-speed rail transport, in line with Turkey’s ambition to become a Eurasian logistics hub – energy, automotive and finance. Companies such as Edison, Eni, Saipem, Tenaris, FSI and Webuild are involved in strategically important projects.
But the summit will not only have an economic dimension. As confirmed by the director of communications of the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun, Meloni and Erdoğan will also discuss “current regional and global issues”. From the crisis in the Middle East to the war in Ukraine, to the delicate balances in the Black Sea, relations between Rome and Ankara are intertwined with scenarios of great international relevance. Turkey, with the second largest army in NATO after the United States, confirms itself as an essential player for European and Mediterranean security.
Today’s meeting therefore represents an important step towards the construction of a strategic axis between Italy and Turkey. While on the one hand the objective is to strengthen the entrepreneurial fabric and economic relations, on the other hand the aim is to achieve closer coordination on complex international dossiers. The dialogue between Rome and Ankara appears destined to have a significant impact not only on the commercial level, but also in the redefinition of geopolitical balances in the Euro-Mediterranean area and beyond. In an increasingly fragmented global context, the agreement between Italy and Turkey emerges as a bet on pragmatic cooperation, capable of producing concrete and lasting benefits for both nations.
Alessandro Fiorentino