(ANSAmed) - ROME - Franco Frattini has flown to Turkey today for a quick visit before heading to Kabul tomorrow to take part in the swearing-in of the re-elected president Hamid Karzai, as part of the state visit by Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, in the country since Monday. The mission - part of the strategic partnership between Italy and Turkey boasting excellent bilateral relations, strengthened by the strong support Italy has given to Turkey's EU membership bid - will see the head of Italian foreign affairs take part in the launch of the promotional initiative '2010 Year of Italy in Turkey'. It is a series of events that, under a single 'logo', aims to promote excellence within Italian business in Turkey with initiatives mostly in the economic and cultural fields. The first event will take place today when Frattini inaugurates a show on 'Venice-Istanbul'. The minister will also be participating in the Italy-Turkey Dialogue Forum, an annual appointment between the civil societies of the two countries. The Istanbul meeting between the new countries will be followed by the Inter-Governmental Summit one in Rome in mid-December, over which the two premiers will preside and ministers in the sectors involved in the main bilateral collaboration will take part. On the economic front, the bilateral strategic partnership is based especially on collaboration in strategic sectors, such as defence, energy and infrastructure. In defence, this year Telespazio was awarded the contract for supplying Turkey's first high-resolution digital satellite for civil and military ends (part of the GKTRK programme), worth over 250 million euros. Just off the 2007 success of a large order for 51 helicopters to be used by the Turkish army as part of the ATAK programme (a 1.23-billion-euro contract), Agusta Westland is also awaiting a decision on a call for tenders for 110 multipurpose helicopters. In infrastructure, Ansaldi has instead got hold of the international contract for the concession of the Istanbul-Smyrna highway, worth 6 billion dollars. Cooperation in the energy sector is also strong, as had been reiterated in the Italy-Russia-Turkey summit held in Ankara in August in which Silvio Berlusconi took part along with his counterparts Putin and Erdogan. Among the most important projects are the Italian-Turkish oil pipeline Samsun-Cehyan and the Turkish-Greek-Italian gas pipeline (interconnection of transport networks, ITGI).(ANSAmed).