The point reached in relations between Romania and Türkiye is a source of pride, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Thursday.

Ankara is pleased that relations with Romania are developing by the day, Soylu said at a reception in the Turkish capital of Ankara to mark Romania's Independence Day.

Soylu said Ankara will continue to enhance ties with Bucharest to sustain peace, stability and welfare in the Balkans.

"I happily state that Romania is our biggest trading partner in Southeast Europe," he said, adding that the two countries are working to reach a $10 billion trade volume.

"Our close relations as two friendly states of the region with such strong ties make significant contributions to solving the problems in our region," he said.

Romanian Ambassador to Türkiye Stefan Tinca said the countries are strategic partners and enjoy a "mature and robust" relationship.

"We are good regional partners in the Black Sea and Southeast Europe. We are strong allies within NATO. As we come close to the end of the year, I expect our economic exchanges to pass above the $10 billion threshold," said Tinca.

Türkiye and Romania have strong political, economic, cultural relations and humanitarian bonds based on deep-rooted historical ties. Türkiye and Romania maintain their close relations through high-level dialogue and friendship.

Based on the mutual commitment to enhance bilateral relations in every field, the level of relations was raised to the strategic partnership with the signing of the Strategic Partnership Declaration in December 2011. The action plan for the implementation of the declaration was signed in March 2013. The 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership in 2021 was celebrated with various events held in both Ankara and Bucharest.

The exchange of high-level visits between Türkiye and Romania reflects the close political dialogue and friendly relations.