Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi traveled to Ankara on an official visit hosted by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His schedule included meetings with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç, as well as a dinner hosted in his honor by Erdoğan.
The two leaders signed a political cooperation protocol aimed at deepening bilateral ties and held a joint press conference. They also addressed a memorandum of understanding on visa facilitation that both countries had signed in Ankara on 18 January.
The visit then moved north, with Prodi and Erdoğan traveling to Bolu to open the Bolu Mountain Tunnel on the Edirne-Istanbul-Ankara expressway, a project completed by Italian construction firm Astaldi.
From Bolu, both prime ministers continued on to Istanbul, where they co-chaired a round-table discussion titled "Türkiye and Italy: Strategic Economic Alliance" at the Palace of Venice, the Italian ambassador's residence. The session focused on expanding economic cooperation between the two countries, after which Prodi held a separate press conference.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in January 2007, in its own words.