Fifteen billion euros: as much as one point of GDP. So much is the trade between Italy and Turkey worth. A relationship almost in equilibrium with 7.7 billion euros in exports and 7.2 billion in imports. Of course, sales to the Bosphorus are down compared to the over 10 billion that were recorded up to 2017, but reducing the economic relations between Rome and Ankara to the trade balance alone would be reductive because Italy is the first foreign investor in the country with 48 companies present and active in the area: there are banks from Mps to Unicredit, but there are also Piaggio and Fiat; there is Finmeccanica, Barilla, Bialetti, there is Generali, but also Luxottica and Mapei. The tricolor presence is rooted and covers all industrial sectors. This is why Mario Draghi said that “with these dictators, who are needed, however, in order to collaborate one must be frank in expressing one’s diversity of views and also ready to cooperate to ensure the interests of one’s country, one must find the right balance “.
In short, words, but also pragmatism in recognizing that Italy “needs” Turkey and that one must be ready “to cooperate to ensure the interests of one’s country”. A reasoning that – even more so – applies to Turkey of which Rome is the fifth most important trading partner in the world and the second in Europe, just behind Germany. In particular, Ankara relies on Italy for the purchase of machinery and equipment, vehicles and trailers and chemical products: three items alone were worth 3.6 billion Italian exports in 2020, 50% of the total. Conversely, Italy imports cars, tractors and spare parts; mechanical machinery and equipment; iron and steel.
Breaking relations with Italy, however, for Turkey would mean putting the country’s first direct investor at the door. According to the latest data from the Turkish Ministry of Commerce, last year Ankara attracted 3.9 billion dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI) between January and August; approximately 3.2 billion arrived in the service sector. Italy contributed 966 million, ahead of the United States (745 million) and the United Kingdom (439 million).