Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Syrian conflict and deployment of the NATO Patriot missile system in Turkey will be high on the agenda during Russian President Vladimir Putin's forthcoming visit to Turkey, Turkish media reported.

Putin will pay an official visit to Turkey in early December to attend a meeting of the Turkey-Russia High Level Cooperation Council in Istanbul. The visit coincides with the deployment process of the Patriot missiles at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Earlier, Russia said openly that it opposes the deployment, a sign of deepening tensions across the region over the Syrian crisis.

Last week the Russian Foreign Ministry warned NATO member Turkey against deploying Patriot missiles on its border with Syria, saying it would provoke a serious conflict in the region and draw in the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Besides, Putin's visit is expected to center on the economic relations between Russia and Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin will co-chair the December 3 meeting of the Council, which is set to discuss ways to boost economic and trade ties and also review bilateral relations and international developments, Erdogan's press office said Wednesday.

Putin's press office also released a statement over the visit, saying that the Council meeting's agenda includes a full range of issues of bilateral relations, including trade, economic and investment ties, interregional, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, implementation of joint strategic energy projects, and banking sector cooperation.

The statement said Putin and Erdogan will hold separate meetings with Turkish and Russian business people, adding that the two countries will also sign several agreements during the visit.

Turkey and Russia are already good trade partners, and Putin's visit is expected to further enhance business relations, Today's Zaman newspaper reported. The two countries' trade turnover amounts to $30 billion, $24 billion of which is Russian exports, mainly of gas, to Turkey.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Economy, there are nearly 1,400 firms with Russian capital active in Turkey, while more than 2,000 Turkish companies are doing business in Russia.

Turkey's total direct investments in Russia amount to $10 billion, which represents Turkey's biggest investments abroad, while Turkish construction firms have so far had a total turnover of $35 billion in projects in Russia.

Turkey is also a major destination for Russian tourists, with 3.6 million Russians having visited the country in 2011.

Also expected during the visit is an exchange of views on key international and regional affairs, in particular, the situation in the Middle East, Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the Balkans.

The discussions in Ankara are also likely to cover the Israeli attacks on Gaza, Iran's nuclear program and the nuclear power plant to be built in Akkuyu, Turkey.

Putin was expected to visit Turkey in October, but he postponed trips to India, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan and Turkey due to health problems, and had been working from his residence outside Moscow for several weeks.