Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday boosting bilateral trade and cooperation in nuclear energy and space industry will be high on the agenda of his visit to Turkey next week.

Implementation of strategic joint projects in the energy sector, improvement of trade turnover structure through increasing the share of high-tech products and cooperation in space exploration and nuclear energy will be discussed during the session of the bilateral cooperation council, Putin said in an interview with Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

During the visit on December 1 the Russian President will attend a session of the bilateral cooperation council and will have a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Successful examples of cooperation include the upgrade of Turkey’s steelworks by Russia’s Magnitogorsk steel mill, an investment worth USD 2 B, and the launch of a car assembly factory in Turkey’s province of Sakarya, a joint venture between Turkish car maker Mersan Otomotiv and Russia’s GAZ group.

The launch of a second Turkish telecommunication satellite, Turksat?4B, is scheduled for next year following the putting into orbit of Turksat?4A by a Russian carrier rocket in February this year, Putin said.

Trade turnover between Russia and Turkey totalled nearly USD 33 B last year. With Russian direct investment in Turkey exceeding USD 1.7 B, and Turkish investment in Russia are close to USD 1 B both countries are “interested in maintaining this positive trend,” the Russian President said.

Looking at Russian gas supplies to Turkey, Putin said this year’s gas deliveries are expected to exceed last year’s volume of 26.6 billion cubic metres.

“ In October, we reached an agreement in principle on increasing the annual supply through the Blue Stream gas pipeline from 16 to 19 billion cubic meters and on the engineering works that need to be done,” he added.

In 2010 Russia signed an agreement with Turkey to build a nuclear power plant at Akkuyu in Turkey – a project worth some USD 20 B.

“This large-scale projectis being implemented on schedule and will strengthen Turkey’s energy security and create new jobs,” the Russian President said.

Western sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine have triggered a Russian ban on food imports from the US and the EU – a move that has opened a new market niche for Turkish food producers to fill, said Putin.

“We welcome their intentions to export more meat, dairy and fish products, vegetables, and fruit to Russia,” he said.“We have already agreed with Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan that we can bring our mutual trade up to USD 100 B”.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!