Türkiye and Italy are committed to deepening cooperation in the defense industry, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, according to Anadolu Agency.

Boosting bilateral defense cooperation serves mutual interests and both countries are on the same page about it, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference in the capital Ankara alongside Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The Turkish president said Ankara and Rome are willing to sign an agreement as soon as possible on the SAMP/T air defense system project.

“We discussed the issue again in our meeting today, and our defense ministers handled it in the same way. We want to sign the SAMP/T as soon as possible. There is no problem in our agreement. We also have an agreement with (French President Emmanuel) Macron.”

Ahead of the news conference, Türkiye and Italy signed nine cooperation agreements in several areas including defense, trade, diplomacy and development.

The two leaders also discussed Türkiye-EU relations, said Erdogan.

“I would like to state that I thanked Draghi for Italy’s support for further improvement of our relationship with the union.

“The developments in our region have concretely demonstrated once again that Türkiye is important in many fields for the EU,” he added.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency