PRESS RELEASE : Rishi Sunak meeting with the President of Türkiye [July 2023]

The Prime Minister met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the NATO Summit in Vilnius today.

The Prime Minister welcomed Türkiye’s support for Sweden’s accession to NATO and commended President Erdoğan for his efforts.

The leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to ensuring the UK-Türkiye relationship reaches its full potential, building on growing trade links and strong defence and security cooperation.

Discussing opportunities to bolster our bilateral cooperation, including in cutting-edge defence technology and in addressing the shared challenge of illegal migration, the Prime Minister set out that dealing with criminal people smuggling gangs is a key priority for him.

Both leaders agreed to task their Foreign Ministers to look at areas for closer collaboration on migration and organised crime. The leaders also agreed to deepen intelligence sharing and cooperation on countering terrorism.

President Erdoğan updated the Prime Minister on President Zelenskyy’s recent visit to Türkiye and the leaders agreed on the importance of ensuring an extension to the Black Sea Grain Deal.

The leaders agreed to stay in close touch.