Türkiye aiming for $100 billion trade turnover with Russia – Erdogan

The two countries have been deepening economic cooperation following Western sanctions on Moscow

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Ankara and Moscow would continue strengthening economic ties with the aim of increasing their annual trade turnover to $100 billion.

He made the remarks during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital Astana.

“Currently the volume [of trade] is $55 billion,” Erdogan stated, adding that the two sides believe they can achieve their goal of doubling that figure.

Putin declared that relations between the two countries had been developing consistently despite the complicated global situation. Moscow and Ankara are pursuing major joint projects as planned, he said, adding that “there’ve been no hitches.”

In 2023, the two leaders agreed to encourage mutual investment and help Russian and Turkish businesses to enter each other’s markets. It’s also been agreed to introduce the Russian ruble as a settlement currency in bilateral trade, including payments for Russian natural gas supplies.

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Trade turnover between the two countries soared in 2022, exceeding $62 billion, following the imposition of Western sanctions on Moscow. The volume of trade has slightly declined due to the threat of secondary sanctions from the US, which sought to stop flows of products such as industrial machinery and spare parts that could allegedly help the Russian military.

US officials have repeatedly identified Türkiye as a potential hub for sanctions evasion, with some Western officials raising concerns about allegations of trade between Turkish firms and sanctioned Russian entities.

Moscow and Ankara are currently working on several initiatives related to natural gas exports, and plan to continue to build relations in the energy sector.