Romania’s foreign minister says his country supports Turkey’s future membership in the 28-nation European Union.

Bogdan Aurescu met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Bucharest on Wednesday and says he told him that “new negotiations” with the EU should be “opened as soon as possible, something we think Turkey is ready for.”

Romania and Turkey traditionally have good trade, political and military relations. More than 400,000 Romanian tourists visited Turkey last year.

Turkey and Romania are both NATO members. Romania joined the EU in 2007.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Romania in April, saying he wanted to increase joint trade, currently at $6.3 billion a year, to $10 billion.