Speaker Anglu Farrugia travels to Turkey for meeting with Erdogan

Malta’s Speaker Anglu Farrugia has travelled to Ankara for a meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a brief statement, Farrugia said that discussions focused on enhancing economic and trade relations between Malta and Turkey, and between Turkey and the EU.

“The two dignitaries spoke highly of the bilateral relations between both countries, mainly with regard to the economic and trade relations,” he said.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed an expansion of its customs union with Turkey to include services and most agricultural goods. The customs union was long seen a precursor to eventual EU membership for Turkey, but such accession talks have stalled amid human rights concerns. Such concerns have increased sharply in the wake of Erdogan’s reaction to the failed coup d’etat last July, which including purging state institutions of potential government critics and jailing pro-Kurdish politicians.

Farrugia’s delegation is comprised of Labour MP Etienne Grech, Opposition MP Frederick Azzoprdi, Malta’s Consul General to Istanbul Franklin Aquilina and the Personal Assistant to the Speaker Ancel Farrugia Migneco.

During his stay, Anglu Farrugia also held talks with Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who noted that this was the first ever high-level delegation led by a Maltese Speaker to the country.

“I emphasised that Turkey has an important and active role as part of the Mediterranean and is also a role model with regards to the migration issue,” Farrugia said in a statement.

During the meeting, Yildirim also confirmed that he will visit Malta in the near future – coinciding with its upcoming stint as head of the EU presidency - following an invitation by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Farrugia also held a separate meeting with the Speaker of the General National Assembly of Turkey Ismail Kahraman.