Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is visiting Belgium to have meetings with his counterparts from European Union (EU), NATO and Belgium.
Minister Çavuşoğlu started his meetings in Brussels with the European Parliament (EP) and met Ryszard Czarnecki, Co-Chair of Turkey-EU Friendship Group and Sergey Lagodinski, Co-Chair of Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission.
Minister Çavuşoğlu stated that we attached importance to parliamentary diplomacy, that EP needed to be constructive to revive relations between Turkey and the EU, and that Turkey-EU Friendship Group could play an important role in creating a positive agenda with the EU.
Later that day, Minister Çavuşoğlu met with Josep Borrell, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission.
Minister Çavuşoğlu noted that we wished to turn a new page with the EU, that the 18 March Statement should be revised with all its elements, that we should work together for a positive agenda, and emphasized that the preparatory works of the visits to Turkey by Presidents of the EU Council and Commission were also discussed during the meeting.
Within the scope of his Brussels visit, Minister Çavuşoğlu also met with high level European Commission (EC) officials including President Ursula von der Leyen, Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, Commissioner for Neighbourly Relations and Enlargement Negotiations Olivér Várhelyi and Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
Minister Çavuşoğlu drew attention to the need of revitalizing our EU accession process, implementation of the visa liberalization for Turkish citizens to the Schengen area, modernization of the Customs Union, as well as the need for enhanced cooperation in the fight against terrorism and irregular migration, and underlined that we should fight against rising racism, discrimination and Islamofobia in Europe all together.
On the same day in the morning, Minister Çavuşoğlu participated in the 17th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) under the theme “the New Normal and Safe and Healthy Tourism” held via videoconference.
At the meeting, Turkey’s ACD Chairmanship which was originally foreseen for the term 2019-2020 was extended until September 2021 and the Ankara Declaration, a comprehensive final document on future cooperation perspectives within the ACD was adopted as well.
