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Turkey, Russia give green light to larger cooperation

7 December 2016 16:26 (UTC+04:00)
Turkey, Russia give green light to larger cooperation

By Gunay Hasanova

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's visit to Russia has given a green light to a more expanded cooperation between Ankara and Moscow in various spheres, primarily in the energy field.

Binali Yildirim met Russian President Vladimir Putin late on December 6 in the Kremlin after holding talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the day.

A wide range of issues, including bilateral relations, particularly in the economic field, as well as regional and international developments were discussed during the meeting.

Gas pipelines and nuclear power stations were among the most important milestones of recent talks between President Putin and PM Yildirim.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also welcomed the approval of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline agreement by his Turkish counterpart.

"I want you [Prime Minister Binali Yildirim] to convey my sincere greetings to President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan. We appreciate his approval for the law regarding the Turkish Stream," Putin added.

Moreover, Putin noted that this was one of the "major" projects that both countries wanted to put into effect.

The Turkish Stream project, announced by Putin during a December 2014 visit to Turkey, will carry gas from Russia through the Black Sea bottom to Turkey's Thrace region. One line, with 15.75 billion cubic meters of capacity, is expected to supply the Turkish market, while a second line intends to carry gas to Europe.

In turn, Turkish premier said the one-year-long "unpleasant" period was over. "The areas where we will intensify our relations are certain, energy comes first," Yildirim added.

"Our desire is to at least put the first phase of the project of Akkuyu nuclear plant in southern Mersin province of Turkey into effect before 2023. We will make every effort to achieve this”, Binali Yildirim said.

The agreement for the Akkuyu nuclear plant was signed in 2010. The plant plans to have 4,800 megawatts of capacity in four units and is anticipated to be operational by 2023.

Turkey plans to build a second nuclear plant in the central Black Sea province, Sinop, while a third one is expected to be built in Igneada on the western Black Sea coast.

Evaluating the meeting between Binali Yildirim and Dmitry Medvedev very productive in terms of economic cooperation, President Putin said that the talks will definitely lead to the increase of trade turnover between the countries that have declined due to the previous breakdown in the relations.

In turn, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed confidence that Turkey and Russia will increase the trade volume up to $100 billion.

Ankara intends to move the relations with Moscow to a new more positive phase and wants to build a strong axis of friendship by full-scale restoration of ties, according to Binali Yildirim, and cooperation in the trade sphere will be a contributing factor to that.

Moreover, Binali Yildirim mentioned that recently the Central Banks of Turkey and Russia have launched work over technical issues of transition to national currencies in the mutual trade.

Within a month the Turkish lira depreciated against the U.S. dollar by more than 11 percent.

Hence, this step will benefit both Russian and Turkish economies if the two sides put the use of national currencies into practice in trade soon.

Although the key aim of the meeting was the course of preparation for upcoming contacts at the top level between President Putin and Erdogan and removal of the halt in the relations, the issues regarding the Syrian conflict and fight against terrorism had also been highlighted during the meeting.

In addition, the two sides mentioned that the dialogue on Syrian question between Ankara and Moscow has been restored and will continue at a high level since it is a priority issue for both countries.

Russia and Turkey play key roles in the fight against terrorism, said the Turkish prime minister.

“Turkey and Russia are of great importance not only in terms of the development of relations between the two countries but also in the fight against terrorism and ensuring peace,” he noted.

Russia and Turkey are looking forward to further mending their relationship, which took a major hit after Turkey downed a Russian bomber jet near the Syrian border last year. The official visit became Yildirim’s first to Russia since he entered office in May, and one of his first international visits in general.

The visit certainly can be assessed as very productive and promising for further achievements.

Both sides repeatedly stressed that the visit of Turkish Prime Minister was a major step in full restoration of relations practically in all spheres of cooperation.

Given Yildirim’s visit a significant importance, President Putin also pointed out that the ongoing visit of Turkish Prime Minister to Moscow may create a basis for the forthcoming meeting between the two countries' leaders for the first half of 2017.

Taking into account the wide spectrum of questions the two sides agreed on during the visit, the issue of the visa-free regime and full removal of the embargo imposed by Russia on Turkish products, which remain as the main expectation of Turkey, seem like to be resolved as well.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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