On Thursday, Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva stressed the importance of setting a positive cooperation agenda between Turkey and the European Union.
Silva said at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in the capital, Lisbon, that his country has very good relations with Turkey, politically, diplomatically, and economically.
He pointed out that Turkey ranks 14th in the list of exporting countries to Portugal, and 17th in the list of importing countries, pointing to the increase in the number of Turkish investors in his country.
He explained that “Turkey is one of the first countries to have an observer status with the Portuguese Speaking Countries Group, and it has very important contributions to it.”
He stated that they discussed how to develop Ankara’s relations with the European Union, noting that there are some differences between Turkey and two EU member countries.
Silva expressed his country’s hope to overcome these differences through direct dialogue.
He stressed that he discussed with Çavuşolu some international political issues, the situation in Libya, developments in the Caucasus, Venezuela and the problem of terrorism in Mozambique.
Regarding the Azerbaijani Karabakh region, he stressed that Portugal supported the ceasefire.
On developments in Libya, he said that his country supported the ceasefire there, the political process and the Berlin Conference.
He expressed his pleasure in taking positive steps regarding the eastern Mediterranean and its continuation, saying: “We hope that a positive cooperation agenda will emerge during the upcoming European Union summit and that we can bring peace and stability to the eastern Mediterranean.”
