Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz on Thursday said Türkiye has made billions of dollars worth of direct investments in Romania and said the two countries seek to further expand their bilateral trade.

"Our direct investments in Romania have reached a very high level of $7.5 billion when the third country investments are included," Yılmaz told a meeting with businesspeople in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

In terms of direct investments, Romania is among the top 10 countries among European Union member states where Turkish companies invest, and in the contracting sector, it is a country that ranks first in Europe, he said.

He said trade figures in the first three months of this year indicate that there will be "a very serious increase this year."

"I hope we will reach $13 billion, but we aim for a much higher trade volume in the medium and long term," he said.

"Our bilateral trade volume has surpassed the $10 billion mark and we are very pleased about this. We have full confidence that this momentum will continue," he noted.

The total trade volume increased to $10.6 billion last year. Türkiye's exports amounted to $6.9 billion, while imports totaled $3.6 billion.

"Romania's geographical proximity to our country, existing transportation facilities and the presence of businesspeople and contractors operating here increase the potential for trade and cooperation between the two countries," he said.

He added that Romania is one of the countries with which Türkiye has the highest level of political, economic, military and cultural relations in Europe and the Balkans.