The visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Turkey this week resulted in the signing of 17 important agreements between the two countries in energy, trade and tourism. On his first official visit to Turkey, the Russian President met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials. The two countries agreed to establish a High-Level Cooperation Council to be headed at the Prime Minister level.
The bilateral energy agreements include building a pipeline to carry Russian oil from the Black Sea Turkish port of Samsun to Ceyhan, a regional oil terminal on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Currently, a large percentage of Russian oil is carried to Europe via tankers through the Bosporus straits. The pipeline is envisioned to diminish the environmental hazards of tanker traffic and alleviate congestion in the narrow straits that runs through Istanbul. Advancing Turkey’s long-standing plans to build a nuclear energy capacity, Russia and Turkey also agreed to build a nuclear power plant at Akkuyu in southern Turkey.
The two countries have also agreed to increase their trade volume from the current 30 billion USD to 100 billion USD over the next five years. The trade volume between the two countries largely benefits Russia, with Turkey exporting 6.5 billion USD to Russia. Russian trade surplus with Turkey is created by Turkey’s growing dependency on Russian natural gas, which currently supplies nearly 70 percent of Turkey’s natural gas demand.
Turkey and Russia also agreed to mutually lift entry visa requirements for visits of up to 30 days in an effort to boost tourism and business. About 3 million Russian tourists visit Turkey annually. Describing the Russia-Turkey relationship as “a full-scale strategic partnership,” Medyedev said called the agreements “historical” which will “before anything else ease the life of millions of people."
