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ANSAmed - Italy
May 7, 2012 Monday 6:33 PM CET
Italy-Turkey: Erdogan to Monti, economy boom in Ankara;
Emerging regional power, focus on Italian enterprises
(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, 7 MAY - After last week's entrepreneurs' meeting
in Istanbul, tomorrow an Italian-Turkish political summit will take
place in Rome.
Turkey is an emerging regional power, in-between Europe and Asia, the
West and Islam, a Muslim country and a member of the NATO. The
Conservative Islamic Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be
accompanied by at least six ministers. He will meet Giorgio Napolitano
first, then Mario Monti, while the ministers will have parallel talks.
Some agreements are expected to be signed, one of them concerning
security issues.
This is the second summit with Italian politicians for Erdogan, after
the summit with his ''friend'' Silvio Berlusconi, which took place in
2008 in Izmir. There are no clouds in the sky between the two
countries, ''their relations are healthy'', specified the Italian
Ambassador in Ankara, Gianpaolo Scarante. Rome is the first supporter
of Turkey's EU membership application, which has been standing for
more than 20 years and is progressing extremely slowly, with further
turbulences to be expected in July, with Cyprus EU Presidency.
Economic relations are steadily growing. The Turkish market is a new
promised land for Italian entrepreneurs in these times of crisis and
recession.
The Eastern European giant (which is three times the size of Italy,
with 75 mln young inhabitants, which will become 100 mln in 20 years)
is currently the 16th world's economy. It has a ''Chinese'' growth
rate of 8.5%. It aims at becoming the eighth world's financial power,
passing from a pro-capita income of USD 10,000 to 25,000. Fifty major
enterprises based in both countries held a meeting last week in
Istanbul, in order to see how the Italian presence on the Italian
market may be extended and t5o prepare a joint venture to face
together the markets of the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe.
Tureky is driven by the ''Anatolian tigers'', the new aggressive SMEs
inspired by the Italian North-East model; the country expects
investments worth hundreds of billions from today until 2023,
especially in infrastructures, transport and energy. There are 920
Italian enterprises at the moment, and Italy is already Ankara's
fourth trade partner, with 21.4 bln in 2011. Italy built hospitals,
roads, ports and is currently running for construction of the new
grand bridge on the Bosporus. Against the background of political
earthquakes caused by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Turkey is
preparing to take on itself the role of regional power, the police of
the Eastern Mediterranean, drawing inspiration from the ''Ottoman
empire'', according to Istanbul's press.
Turkey is the second NATO military power and is standing as a model of
democracy for the new authorities stemming from the Arab Springs.
However, relations with Bashar Al Assadi's Syria are tense and Erdogan
does not exclude to resort to Article 5 of the NATO; the Turkish Prime
Minister might discuss this option with Monti, with Shiite-led Iraq
with Armenia and Israel, in spite of the ''no trouble with
neighbours'' line designed in the past years by the Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu, who will probably become the Prime Minister in 2014,
when Erdogan becomes President of the Republic. However, shadows are
still looming of the human rights front. The Chairman of the
FNSI,(National Federation of the Italian Press), Roberto Natale, asked
Monti to raise the issue of the 100 journalists still held in Turkish
prisons, an issue labelled as ''a matter of concern'' by Brussels.
From: A. Papazian
May 7, 2012 Monday 6:33 PM CET
Italy-Turkey: Erdogan to Monti, economy boom in Ankara;
Emerging regional power, focus on Italian enterprises
(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, 7 MAY - After last week's entrepreneurs' meeting
in Istanbul, tomorrow an Italian-Turkish political summit will take
place in Rome.
Turkey is an emerging regional power, in-between Europe and Asia, the
West and Islam, a Muslim country and a member of the NATO. The
Conservative Islamic Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be
accompanied by at least six ministers. He will meet Giorgio Napolitano
first, then Mario Monti, while the ministers will have parallel talks.
Some agreements are expected to be signed, one of them concerning
security issues.
This is the second summit with Italian politicians for Erdogan, after
the summit with his ''friend'' Silvio Berlusconi, which took place in
2008 in Izmir. There are no clouds in the sky between the two
countries, ''their relations are healthy'', specified the Italian
Ambassador in Ankara, Gianpaolo Scarante. Rome is the first supporter
of Turkey's EU membership application, which has been standing for
more than 20 years and is progressing extremely slowly, with further
turbulences to be expected in July, with Cyprus EU Presidency.
Economic relations are steadily growing. The Turkish market is a new
promised land for Italian entrepreneurs in these times of crisis and
recession.
The Eastern European giant (which is three times the size of Italy,
with 75 mln young inhabitants, which will become 100 mln in 20 years)
is currently the 16th world's economy. It has a ''Chinese'' growth
rate of 8.5%. It aims at becoming the eighth world's financial power,
passing from a pro-capita income of USD 10,000 to 25,000. Fifty major
enterprises based in both countries held a meeting last week in
Istanbul, in order to see how the Italian presence on the Italian
market may be extended and t5o prepare a joint venture to face
together the markets of the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe.
Tureky is driven by the ''Anatolian tigers'', the new aggressive SMEs
inspired by the Italian North-East model; the country expects
investments worth hundreds of billions from today until 2023,
especially in infrastructures, transport and energy. There are 920
Italian enterprises at the moment, and Italy is already Ankara's
fourth trade partner, with 21.4 bln in 2011. Italy built hospitals,
roads, ports and is currently running for construction of the new
grand bridge on the Bosporus. Against the background of political
earthquakes caused by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Turkey is
preparing to take on itself the role of regional power, the police of
the Eastern Mediterranean, drawing inspiration from the ''Ottoman
empire'', according to Istanbul's press.
Turkey is the second NATO military power and is standing as a model of
democracy for the new authorities stemming from the Arab Springs.
However, relations with Bashar Al Assadi's Syria are tense and Erdogan
does not exclude to resort to Article 5 of the NATO; the Turkish Prime
Minister might discuss this option with Monti, with Shiite-led Iraq
with Armenia and Israel, in spite of the ''no trouble with
neighbours'' line designed in the past years by the Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu, who will probably become the Prime Minister in 2014,
when Erdogan becomes President of the Republic. However, shadows are
still looming of the human rights front. The Chairman of the
FNSI,(National Federation of the Italian Press), Roberto Natale, asked
Monti to raise the issue of the 100 journalists still held in Turkish
prisons, an issue labelled as ''a matter of concern'' by Brussels.
From: A. Papazian