New Italian Ambassador to Turkey Mr. Luigi Mattiolo’s Remarks on Italy-Turkey Relations in Defence Industry
Defence Turkey: Mr. Ambassador, first of all I would like to welcome you to our country and wish you the best for your duty period?
Thank you. I am very happy and proud to be the Ambassador of Italy to Turkey. This is a great country with a long history that has recently experienced big changes in almost every field, from politics to economy, culture to defence. Although I arrived only a month ago, I am already very enthusiastic about all the future projects and developments that I will be witnessing in the next few years.
Defence Turkey: How can you define the relationship between Italy and Turkey?
There is a strong relationship between Italy and Turkey, which is rooted in many centuries of shared history and culture. Over the years, besides common strategic interests in the Mediterranean region, our two countries have broadened their cooperation in many fields and established a strategic partnership.
Today, Italy is among the strongest supporters of Turkey’s full membership to the European Union. We believe that Europe cannot be complete without Turkey, as our Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, clearly stated during his official visit to Turkey in December 2014.
In recent years, Italy and Turkey have confirmed their strategic commercial partnership: with almost 20 billion dollars of bilateral trade in 2014, Italy was Turkey’s fourth biggest trade partner. It is interesting to highlight that Italy’s net surplus, totalling around 5 billion dollars last year, is balancing out: a trend where the difference between exports and imports tends to decrease each year.
Direct investments by Italian companies in Turkey have dramatically increased in the last years. Italian entrepreneurs have consistently looked abroad to expand their activities, and this has long been a primary destination for their business. Today almost 1,200 Italian companies in Turkey span a large variety of industries including defence, automotive, machinery, food, energy, banking and textile.
Furthermore, Italian companies show a high interest in public tenders in Turkey, and have been playing an important role in the major projects and infrastructure of the country, such as the Bosphorus bridge, the high-speed train railworks, the highway Gebze-Bursa-Izmir, and the dam project on the Botan river.
Defence Turkey: What can you say about the Italy – Turkey collaboration in defence projects in Turkey?
Cooperation between the Italian and Turkish defence industries is one of the main pillars of our economic ties. The frequent high-level meetings between our institutions operating in this field, and the presence in Ankara of Finmeccanica, a leading global defence company, demonstrate the importance that Italy attaches to the cooperation in this sector. For this purpose, events such as the Italy – Turkey Defence Days and IDEF are key to further strengthen this partnership.
The approach of Italy to Turkey has shifted from commercial-oriented to industrial-oriented. Turkey is no longer a customer, but an industrial partner. In this regard, as you know, I would like to mention what is unanimously considered the best industrial cooperation project between Turkey and a foreign Country. We’re very proud that Italian Finmeccaninca – Agusta Westland is the partner that, together with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), developed the ATAK helicopter programme for the production of 60 helicopters for the Turkish armed forces. But this Italian-Turkish cooperation in the defence sector spans many other projects, such as Göktürk-1 by Telespazio and TAI, for the production of the first Turkish satellite to be used for military and civil purposes; Meltem-3 by Alenia Aermacchi for the procurement of ATR-72 aircrafts; Italian Vitrociset and Turkish Rocetsan for the delivery of a fixed command and control system, and three mobile optical systems for the modernization of Karapinar Fire and Test Range. And many others.
Defence Turkey: and what about future projects?
Turkey remains a valued partner for the Italian defence industry. Our countries have developed fruitful cooperation in many projects and will continue to deepen partnerships in this field.
For the future, besides growing collaboration among the big players, I foresee tighter cooperation among SME’s of the defence industry. The crucial role of SME’s in both Turkish and Italian economies cannot be denied, and such cooperation can play a key role in the development of this sector.
Another important point to be mentioned is the development of the local defence industry over time. So far, Italian players have had an important role in bringing in sophisticated technology and expertise to Turkish defence projects, but the needs of the local defence industry is changing: Turkey is investing in R&D to become more autonomous. In view of these changes, Italian companies will be undertaking new roles in the Turkish defence market in the future.
