Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday met British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London.
In a social media post after their meeting, Lammy said Türkiye was an indispensable ally to the U.K. and they were committed to “strengthening our security and building business opportunities for British and Turkish people.” “We continue that work today as we develop a Bilateral Cooperation Framework to drive forward progress,” he said.
Prior to their meeting, Fidan said in a statement that he was acquainted with Lammy since his party was in opposition and was pleased to meet him. Fidan was quoted by Turkish media that he was also pleased to see friendship and cooperation contributing to good relations of Türkiye and United Kingdom. He underlined deep-rooted and strategic relations between two countries and voiced commitment to strengthen cooperation between two countries.
Lammy visited Türkiye as shadow foreign secretary in March while the last visit by a British foreign minister to Ankara was by then secretary David Cameron in January.
Türkiye and the U.K. are allies and established a “strategic partnership” in 2007.
In August, Türkiye announced that it had agreed with the United Kingdom to initiate negotiations in Ankara to revise their free trade agreement (FTA), as the sides are looking for ways to strengthen economic ties.
The agreement has been in place since the U.K.'s departure from the European Union in 2020.
Trade talks were paused during the election, but the new government said in July that it would restart negotiations with multiple parties, including Türkiye.
