Türkiye, Italy aim to advance investment partnership in high-tech fields

Rome: Türkiye and Italy aim to enhance investment partnership, especially in the high-tech fields, a top official said on Tuesday, evaluating the cooperation opportunities between the duo.

“We consider our leading defense and aviation company Baykar’s investment in the well-established Italian aviation company Piaggio Aerospace as a historic step toward this goal and a signal flare of a new era in industrial and technological cooperation between the two countries,” said Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır.

He held a joint news conference with the Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso following their meeting in Istanbul.

Making the statement following the one-on-one and inter-delegation meetings held with Urso, Kacır said that Türkiye and Italy, the two leading production centers of the Mediterranean, continue to develop their centuries-old commercial and economic partnership with each passing day.

As part of his remarks, Kacır mentioned that Türkiye’s exports to Italy stood at $13 billion last year. “As a result of the strong commercial ties established between the two countries in many sectors, especially textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automotive and machinery, our mutual trade has exceeded the $30 billion target. We have now set our course for bigger and more ambitious goals.”

The minister also highlighted Türkiye’s technological and entrepreneurial development in the past two decades, growth in high-tech exports, and the establishment of numerous technoparks.

Kacır pointed out that the young and dynamic workforce, logistic advantages, the opportunity to reach a population of 1 billion people with the customs union and free trade agreements signed, and the geographical and cultural proximity between Italy and Türkiye have made Türkiye a center of attraction for Italian companies.

“While carrying our country to the position it deserves on the world stage, we see the partnership between Türkiye and Italy in the fields of industry, technology, investment and innovation as part of the strategic vision that will reinforce the positions of the two countries in global markets within the framework of common interests,” he said.

He further noted that they discussed with his counterpart in detail new cooperation opportunities, especially in high-tech sectors such as defense industry, aviation and space.

“I sincerely believe that the minister’s visit will contribute significantly to the sprouting of new cooperation between Türkiye and Italy,” he added.

Urso, for his part, highlighted he witnessed technological and industrial development in Türkiye in the past two decades, also suggesting that cooperation between the companies of the two countries has developed in the fields of industry, trade and technology.

“These relations have become more concentrated in recent years. Our foreign trade volume has increased by one-third in the last three years. I should point out that our bilateral trade volume has increased from $24 billion to $32 billion,” he said. He also emphasized the balance and parity in trade.

Urso said that the two countries are part of the same continent and added: “Another reason I am here today is that we are trying to build a stronger partnership with the minister. We are also thinking of cooperating in third countries with the same vision. We encourage Turks to invest more in Italy.”

Furthermore, pointing to the acquisition of Piaggio Aerospace by the Turkish drone giant Baykar, the Italian minister noted he followed the process personally, while also suggesting it would provide a chance to “advance the production of drones.”

“I visited the factory and introduced the new owner of Piaggio Aerospace to the factory employees and was met with applause,” he said.

“This will also create an opportunity to advance the production of drones, which is an extremely important and new technology area. At the same time, there may be newer ones based on this cooperation. In this way, the factories in Italy will become stronger and go further. These two companies will take stronger steps together in Europe,” he added.

Baykar, a pioneer of drone production acquired the Italian historic company late last year. Its top executives, CEO Haluk Bayraktar and CTO Selçuk Bayraktar visited the factory in northern Italy last week.

At the same time, Urslo also stated that they are closely following the investment made by the Koç family in the durable consumer goods manufacturer in Italy and said that they met with the senior executives of the Koç Group – one of the largest conglomerates in Türkiye.

Noting that the delegations will continue their work intensively in the coming weeks, Urso also mentioned they needed to prepare the ground for the intergovernmental meetings, to be held in April.

He also recalled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have met many times in recent international summits.

“Therefore, we are at the best moment to make another leap forward in our already excellent trade and industrial relations. For this reason, we will be in very intensive cooperation next week,” he concluded.