“There are many projects Turkey and Russia can realize together as two important actors in the world,” Erdoğan said during his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow. Erdoğan expressed his pleasure with the fact that there is a common desire in both Turkey and Russia to develop bilateral relations.
“Our relations with Russia have reached a high point recently. The fields in which we cooperate have begun to diversify. We have cooperation in the fields of politics, culture and commerce. I believe that, both in bilateral and regional relations, there are many things we can do together as two important actors.
Energy is a very important area of cooperation. We have an ideal partnership in this field.” Russia is Turkey’s single biggest trading partner and provides two-thirds of its gas. The two countries have bilateral trade ties totaling some $40 billion.
Medvedev said the two countries had ambitious goals and Turkish-Russian relations were improving, which was in line with the definition of a strategic partnership.
He said there were huge energy projects between Turkey and Russia while voicing his wish that the two countries would take further steps in energy during Erdoğan’s visit.
The Russian president also underlined the importance of improving Turkish-Russian relations to settle many complicated regional problems. Medvedev said the similarity in perspective of the two countries on various matters had a determining role in the region. Prime Minister Erdoğan later had a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The two were expected to hold a joint press conference after their meeting.
