Ankara - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday night said his country would continue to support Turkey's bid to join the European Union stressing the strategic importance of Turkey in the region. "Turkey should always be listened to and we defend this. Turkey has very important relations with all countries in the region," said Berlusconi in the Turkish Aegean city of Izmir following talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In return, Erdogan thanked Berlusconi for Italy's continued strong support for Turkey's EU bid and said that Turkish-Italian cooperation in many areas was increasing.
"Turkish-Italian foreign trade now stands at 17.5 billion US dollars and we are both agreed that we want to increase this," Erdogan said.
The Turkish prime minister in particular pointed to Italian companies' future involvement in t
