Milliyet – Turkish-Russian trade and business ties are to grow stronger following Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official visit to Russia where two sides have agreed on extending the level of cooperation in a number of fields, including automotive, energy and tourism.
Taking the bilateral trade to USD 100 billion by 2020 and joint automotive production by Turkish and Russian companies were extensively discussed at the 4th Türkiye-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council meeting held in St. Petersburg, attended by Prime Minister Erdogan and Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
According to sources, the Russian automotive company GAZ and a Turkish partner will jointly invest in a production plant in Türkiye’s Sakarya province, turning the existing assembly operation to serial production. GAZ currently manufactures light commercial vehicles in Türkiye.
Türkiye and Russia have also set a bilateral trade volume target of USD 100 billion to be reached by 2020, up from 2012’s USD 35 billion. An important trade partner to Türkiye, Russia is building Türkiye’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, Mersin.