Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (R) attends a joint news conference with visiting French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Ankara, Türkiye, Jan. 27, 2026. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

ANKARA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye's priority goals in its relations with the European Union are to update the Customs Union agreement and advance visa liberalization, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday, pointing to persistent bottlenecks in ties with the bloc.

"We currently have several objectives ahead of us. One is the updating of the Customs Union agreement, and the other is the implementation of the visa liberalization agreement," Fidan told a joint news conference with visiting French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot in Ankara.

Fidan said the talks focused on ways to deepen bilateral trade, economic, and political ties, as well as on overcoming obstacles in Türkiye-EU relations. He said Ankara and Paris exchanged views on concrete steps to move the process forward and discussed other outstanding issues.

European security was also a key topic, particularly within NATO, Fidan said, noting that both countries played important roles in the alliance and in Europe's broader security architecture.

"Given the significant roles both countries play in NATO and European security, we underlined that there is much we can do together and that this requires meeting more frequently to discuss specific issues," he said.

Barrot said countering the Islamic State threat was a major area of cooperation, adding that the situation in Syria was discussed during the talks.

Economic ties were another focus, Barrot said, noting that bilateral trade exceeded 24 billion euros (around 26 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024 and that both sides aimed to increase the figure in 2025.

Barrot paid a one-day visit to Türkiye on Tuesday, his first since attending an informal NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Antalya in May 2025. ■