ROME - Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at a working lunch during his visit to Italy on Wednesday.
Turkish Ambassadress to Vatican Filiz Dincmen and officials at Turkish embassies in Vatican and Rome will welcome Erdogan who will come to the Ciampino airport in Rome with a private plane early on Wednesday. Sources said that also officials from the Italian Foreign Ministry would greet Erdogan at the airport.
Erdogan will attend a working lunch that Berlusconi will host at the Prime Ministry Residence at 2 p.m. Turkish local time. A six-member delegation will accompany Erdogan at the lunch in which also Turkish Ambassador in Rome Necati Utkan will participate.
At this working lunch that is expected to last for one and a half hours, Erdogan will request Italy's support to setting a date for opening of accession negotiations with Turkey at the Copenhagen summit in December.
Meanwhile, Erdogan is scheduled to have meetings with Parliament Speaker and Christian Democrats Central Party leader Pierferdinando Casini and main opposition party Democrats of Left's Secretary Piero Fassino.
Erdogan will later hold a press conference at Excelsior Hotel in Rome together with representatives of civil organizations.