President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday officially welcomed Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the Presidential Complex in Ankara.
Ciolacu is making Romania’s first prime ministerial visit to Türkiye in six years upon Erdoğan’s invitation. The pair will hold bilateral talks on current regional and global issues like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and co-chair the first meeting of the high-level strategic cooperation council between their countries.
Erdoğan and Ciolacu are expected to hold a news conference following the signing ceremony of several agreements. These agreements will include the implementation of social security, cooperation in urbanism and enabling diplomatic mission members in income-generating jobs. The agreements will also address positive cooperation on defense, transport, agriculture and tourism, and aim to boost mutual trade to $15 billion annually.
One of the top items on their agenda is implementing the joint security initiatives the sides have established in their region.
Erdoğan and Cialocu will also tackle the development of defense industry cooperation and review expectations in the fight against terrorism.
Romania is Türkiye’s biggest trade partner in the Balkans, with a mutual trade volume hitting $10 billion in the past two years. Turkish investments in Romania surpass $8 billion when those from third countries are included. Over 4,000 Turkish firms are active in Romania, notably leading strategic projects in the construction sector.
Turkish-Romanian relations also have deep historical bonds, particularly between Turkish and Turkish-Tatar citizens, who form a bridge of friendship between the two countries.
Türkiye has joint initiatives with its Black Sea neighbor and NATO ally in regional security. Along with Bulgaria, the three countries set up a task force earlier this year to clear the Black Sea of floating mines Russia planted in the early stages of the conflict nearly two years ago. Some of the mines have since drifted into the waters of the three countries, endangering shipping and complicating Ukraine's efforts to break through a Russian naval blockade.
The initiative, which will have a rotating command structure, will likely start operating this month.
Türkiye and Romania updated their relations to the level of strategic partnership in December 2011 by their presidents at the time. Ties, tracking with a positive agenda, have gained momentum, especially after the recent increase in mutual high-level visits. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in Bucharest on Jan. 31, followed by visits from Defense Minister Yaşar Güler on April 24-25 and Vice President Fuat Yılmaz on April 25-26.
In another boost to bilateral ties, Türkiye has issued a visa exemption for Romanian citizens traveling for tourism and transit passages.
According to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, Romanian citizens holding identity cards will be granted visa exemption for "tourist purposes and transit passages" to Türkiye for a maximum of 90 days, every 180 days.
The decision was made in accordance with Article 18 of Law on Foreigners and International Protection no. 6458, it added.
