* Photo: Mustafa Kamacı / Anadolu Agency (AA)
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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Sochi, where he was paying a one-day working visit yesterday (September 29).
Delivering remarks to the press, Erdoğan voiced his satisfaction to hold a meeting face to face as yesterday's meeting marked the first face-to-face meeting between the two after 1.5 years due to the pandemic.
Noting that "Turkey-Russia relations stood out in political, military, economic and commercial areas," President Erdoğan said:
"Our trade volume is rather good now despite some partial rises and falls. I believe it will reach a better level. I especially thank you for your support in tourism. We are grateful that our Russian friends chose Turkey."
Stating that the construction of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant would be completed on time, President Erdoğan further stated:
"I believe we will open the first unit next year. Intense efforts are underway. There are 13 thousand people working there. 10 thousand of them are Turks and 3 thousand are Russian. But almost all of them have been trained in Russia, which further reinforces our bilateral relations."
Erdoğan also said that "it was not possible to backtrack on Turkey and Russia's joint steps in the defense industry," noting that Turkey gave "appropriate answers" to the questions raised during the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on the issue.
"I especially believe that it will be highly beneficial to continue to further strengthen the Turkey-Russia relations. Our joint steps regarding Syria are of great importance. Peace over there depends on Turkey-Russia relations," said President Erdoğan further.
'Bilateral trade has increased by half'
As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Russia's President Vladimir Putin, for his part, also stated that "though his meetings with Erdoğan were not always without problems, the institutions of their countries are able to reach resolutions between them."
Putin underlined the significant role of cooperation between Ankara and Moscow in ensuring a truce secured last year after Azerbaijan-Armeni̇a conflict in the South Caucasus as well as a strong and permanent peace between the two Caucasian countries.
Touching on the economic relations between Ankara and Moscow as well, Putin said that Turkey's investment in Russia reached 1.5 billion USD and Russia's in Turkey currently stood at 6.5 billion USD.
Major investment projects between the two countries continue as planned and bilateral trade between them has increased by 50 percent in the first nine months of this year, making up for previous losses and achieving a major rise amid the coronavirus pandemic, said Putin at the investments in Sochi, where the meeting was taking place.
Erdoğan was accompanied on his working visit by the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Hakan Fidan, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun and Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın. The closed-door meeting lasted for two hours and 45 minutes.
"We had a productive meeting with my colleague Putin and left Sochi," Erdoğan said on Twitter after the summit came to a close. (PT/SD)
