Turkish FM Hakan Fidan to attend 3 Seas Summit in Croatia

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to Croatia on Tuesday to attend the two-day 11th Three Seas Initiative (TSI) Summit in Dubrovnik, diplomatic sources said.

The summit carries particular significance as it will be the first in which Türkiye participates as a “Strategic Partner,” following its admission in this capacity at the Warsaw summit held on April 28-29, 2025, the sources said.

At the Dubrovnik gathering, representing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Fidan is expected to deliver remarks emphasizing that connectivity today has evolved beyond physical infrastructure into a multidimensional ecosystem encompassing transport, energy, digital networks, finance and governance, and that recent geopolitical developments underscore its growing strategic importance.

He is also expected to highlight the damaging impact of conflicts on the global economy and supply security, stressing the need to diversify supply chains and energy routes.

Fidan is expected to state that Türkiye views the Three Seas Initiative as an inclusive platform that strengthens regional ownership and that, given its geostrategic position, Ankara is ready to contribute further as a “Strategic Partner” and deepen cooperation within the framework.

He is also expected to underline that, in the face of today’s complex and interconnected challenges, there is a need for a renewed narrative in Türkiye-EU relations and that the connectivity agenda could serve as a constructive and promising area for progress.

Fidan is additionally expected to refer to major projects such as the Middle Corridor and the Development Road Project, noting their potential contribution to global trade, and to emphasize that Türkiye does not view connectivity corridors as competing routes but as complementary components of a broader system.

The Three Seas Initiative was launched in 2015 at the initiative of then-Polish President Andrzej Duda and then Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

It aims to strengthen energy, transport and digital infrastructure across Central and Eastern European countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas, many of which inherited outdated or insufficient infrastructure.

Within the initiative, only EU member states can participate as “Participating Members.” Türkiye’s admission as a “Strategic Partner” was approved by consensus at the Warsaw summit in 2025.

Current Participating Members include Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Greece.

Strategic Partners include Türkiye, the European Commission, the US, Germany, Japan and Spain. Partner Participating Countries include Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, and Montenegro.

Italy is expected to be admitted as a new “Strategic Partner” at this year’s Dubrovnik summit.

ANEWS wp:paragraph