President Putin hopes for development of cooperation with Turkey

Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting in the Kremlin with leader of the ruling Turkey's Justice and Development Party Tayyip Erdogan.

At the beginning of the meeting the Russian President pointed out that Turkey had been an old and reliable partner of Russia. He also expressed hope that the best traditions of the Russo-Turkish relations will remain unchanged and "we will reach higher levels of our cooperation." Vladimir Putin congratulated Erdogan with the convincing victory at the elections.

Russia and Turkey have some things to work on jointly, the Russian President said. According to him the trade turnover between the two countries make up $5bln and the unregistered trade makes up another $4bln. Moreover, Turkish companies have contracts in Russia worth of $6bln, Vladimir Putin said.

The fulfilment of the major international project "Blue Stream" is practically over, Putin said. This project proves once again the strength of the Russo-Turkish relations and that Russia and Turkey are reliable partners, the President stressed.

Russia and Turkey are the active participants of the international antiterrorist coalition, Vladimir Putin added. He expressed the hope that the relations in this sphere of cooperation would also keep developing.

Tayyip Erdogan in his turn said, that the development of the economic relations between Russia and Turkey "make us work actively". According to him, the main aim for Turkey nowadays is the development of the economic relations with Russia.

The Russo-Turkish bilateral relations will receive a new impetus after the fulfilment of the "Blue Stream" project, Erdogan said.