Giorgio Napolitano, who is on a formal visit to Turkey, appeared at a joint news conference in the Turkish capital after his meeting with Turkish President Abdullah Gül.

"Italy made a pledge and will keep its pledge," Napolitano said, adding that all EU states made the same pledge to launch negotiations with Turkey.

"We have to pursue the principle of pacta sunt servanda," he said. "It does not make any sense to act in an obstructive manner."

Napolitano said that Turkey's accession would help EU play a more important role in the new global order.

On relations between Turkey and Italy, Napolitano said relations were very good, and reminded that Italian and Turkish officials would get together at an intergovernmental summit in December.

Napolitano met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before his meeting with Gül and later Erdogan flied to Italy for a FAO summit where he would meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Turkish and Italian foreign ministers will also have a meeting in İstanbul on Wednesday.

Napolitano said all these meetings could be seen as sign of good relations and added that commercial ties were also very well between Turkey and Italy. He said more than 700 Italian companies were operating in Turkey and called on Turkish and Italian firms to collaborate further.