Turkish Stream, Akkuyu NPP and visa issues to top Ankara-Moscow talks
By Kamila Aliyeva
Moscow hopes to host a meeting of the Russian-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council in the near future, during which a number of international and regional issues will be discussed.
Russian Foreign Ministry's Fourth European Department Director Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said that Moscow hopes that a meeting of the Russia-Turkey high-level cooperation council led by the countries’ presidents will take place in the near future, while the sides will discuss the issues such as Syria, the Turkish Stream pipeline and the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.
Earlier it was reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Russia in early March and attend the meeting of the Russian-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council. The leaders of Turkey and Russia expected to mull the measure for further removal of economic restrictions from Turkish products and the complete abolition of the visa regime with Turkey.
The previous meeting of the Council was held in Ankara in December 2014, while the meeting that had to take place in Russia in 2015 was canceled due to the crisis in relations between Moscow and Ankara.
"There is an agreement in principle to restore the work of the high-level cooperation council. I hope that the restoration will take place soon, and a high-level meeting within the framework of the Turkey high-level cooperation council will take place as soon as possible," Botsan-Kharchenko said.
The official stressed that foreign policy cooperation, including coordination in Syria, will be one of the topics for discussion at the meeting, but bilateral issues will too be touched upon.
“First of all, these are the prospects for the implementation of major strategic projects such as Akkuyu and Turkish stream,” he added.
Responding to the question on whether the Syrian crisis coordination will be discussed the Russian diplomat said “sure.”
The Turkish Stream gas pipeline was announced in December 2014. President Putin lately signed a law on the ratification of the agreement with Ankara on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
Moscow and Ankara signed an agreement to construct and operate Turkey’s first nuclear power plant at the Akkuyu site in May 2010. As many as 35 billion kWh per year are expected to be produced by the plant.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz