President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday received Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama for talks at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.
The closed-door meeting lasted for over an hour. The Turkish presidency gave no further details about the meeting.
Rama on Tuesday attended the opening ceremony of the fifth Islamic Solidarity Games in Türkiye's central Konya province, where Erdoğan also hosted a dinner in honor of the heads of state and government in attendance.
The general characteristic of the bilateral relations between Türkiye and Albania is mutual friendship, trust and solidarity. Successful high-level and technical visits and contacts are carried out periodically between the two countries.
The considerable number of Turkish citizens of Albanian origin living in Türkiye and of Albanians who chose to stay in Turkey due to education, health and employment or marriage and the growing size of the Turkish community settling in Albania, either as employers or professionals, strengthen the cooperation potential of the two countries.
Türkiye considers Albania a strategically important country for establishing enduring peace and stability in the Balkans and supports its integration with the European and Euro-Atlantic institutions. In 2013, Türkiye was declared "a strategic partner" by Albania.
The president declared the games open, which will continue till Aug. 18 with the participation of more than 4,000 athletes from 56 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Erdoğan attended the opening ceremony along with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ersin Tatar, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Algerian Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane, and Saudi Arabia's Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal Al Saud, who is also serving as the president of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation.
On the sidelines of the event, Erdoğan held separate meetings with Aliyev, Al-Faisal, Benabderrahmane and Shtayyeh. However, no further information was released on the closed-door meetings.
"On the occasion of the fifth Islamic Solidarity Games, I welcome all participants from different corners of the Islamic world who visit our country, and wish success to each of our athletes.
"I invite all sports fans, especially our youth, to this beautiful event in Konya," Erdoğan said on Twitter.
