President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan met today with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Astana within the framework of the 24th summit of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Turkish CNN-Turk TV reported, quoted by BTA.
During the meeting between the two leaders, to which journalists were admitted, the Turkish president invited Putin to visit Turkey as soon as possible.
We haven't been able to meet my dear friend Vladimir Putin for a long time. We kept in touch by phone. At the same time, our ministers are in constant contact with each other, Erdogan said.
We will take serious steps regarding nuclear power plants. We are negotiating with the Russian side for the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Turkish district of Sinop (Northern Turkey – author's note). We think we can take serious steps in this regard. The Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources continues negotiations with his Russian counterpart on the issue, the Turkish head of state said.
He added that relations between the Turkish energy company BOTAS and the Russian company Gazprom continue to develop very well.
Erdogan pointed out that currently the trade between the two countries amounts to 55 billion dollars, which is not enough.
Turkey aims for trade with Russia to reach 100 billion dollars. I believe we can achieve this $100 billion trade target. We have such potential, the Turkish leader pointed out.
The Russian president, in turn, said that "despite all the difficulties in the world, the relations between Russia and Turkey are progressing step by step,", CNN-Turk reported.
We implement strategic projects with Turkey in a pre-planned manner. We are also marking new projects. Last year, over 6 million Russian tourists visited Turkey, with which we broke a record in the field of tourism, the Russian president pointed out.
I would like to thank you for the conditions that have been created in Turkey for Russian citizens, Putin said.
He also said that he will certainly come to Turkey at the invitation of President Erdogan.