ANKARA- Visiting President Anibal Cavaco Silva of Portugal here on Tuesday extended his support to Turkey's European Union (EU) membership process.
Silva, who is currently in Ankara on a state visit, made the remarks at a joint news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul after their official talks at the Cankaya Presidential Palace.
He underlined the similarities between the two countries taking place in western and eastern tips of the continent.
Referring to Turkey's EU membership process, Silva extended his countries support, saying that the EU needed Turkey to reach its future targets and strengthen its foreign policy and security.
Recalling that it took Portugal seven years to become a full member of the EU, Silva said that many countries were negative about their membership in those days.
For his part, Gul expressed Turkey's sound determination to maintain its EU negotiation process.
Gul said that "our allied countries support each other in the international area. Portugal is one of the countries extending full support to Turkey's EU membership process."
"Besides the bilateral relations, the EU-related issues and recent international developments were high on agenda of our meeting with President Silva," he said.
Gul also said that Turkey was determined to further improve its economic and commercial relations with Portugal, adding "Portugal has great relations with Latin American and African countries while Turkey is an influenced country in the Middle East, Caucasus and Asia. We can cooperate especially in the third countries."
Xinhua