Meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started at Russia’s Official Residence of Presidency in Sochi, according to the Turkish presidential administration.
The talks have begun 14:20 Moscow time. For Putin, this is the first public face-to-face meeting since he went into quarantine in connection with the many cases of COVID-19 detected in his entourage.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin and his Turkish counterpart commenced their talks in Sochi. "Yes, the talks have begun," he told TASS.
The cooperation between Russia and Turkey on combating the COVID pandemic is developing very positively and at a good rate, Putin stated during his meeting with Erdogan.
"The work here is proceeding very positively, at a good rate," the Russian leader said, referring to the joint work of the two states on combating the pandemic.
"I believe that this will help in the restoration of the economy in general and tourism in particular," Putin added.
The Russian leader noted that the spread of the coronavirus hit hard the global tourism sector. "The pandemic hit very hard the tourism sector overall globally," he said, mentioning the situation with the tourist flow between the two countries as an example as 6.8 mln Russian tourists visited Turkey in 2019, and only 1.5 mln — in 2020.
"Currently, the situation is recovering gradually. In nine months of this year, 2.5 mln Russian tourists [visited Turkey]," Putin said.
The state of affairs in this area particularly depends on the cooperation between the two countries in tackling the coronavirus spread, which is going "quite positively, with good rates," he added.
Putin believes that the Russian and Turkish agencies have learned to compromise to mutual benefit, although negotiations sometimes proceed with difficulty.
"Negotiations proceed with difficulty sometimes, but the end result is invariably positive. Our agencies have learned to compromise to the benefit of both countries," Putin said at negotiations with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.
Putin stressed that mutual investment kept growing. "We have $1.5 billion of accrued Turkish investment in the Russian economy, while Russian investment in the Turkish economy stands at $6.5 billion," Putin said.
He pointed out that the two countries were implementing major projects. "All proceed as planned," he added.
Earlier today Erdogan arrived in Russia. The Turkish president is accompanied by head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun and Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin.
