Last year trade turnover between Russia and Turkey registered a 40% fall under the global crisis, Russian Premier Vladimir Putin stated at the Jan. 13 meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“In 2008 we reached a turnover of $35bn, however it fell by 40% in 2009… Nevertheless, Turkey keeps being one of Russia’s major economic partners, leaving behind U.S. and Great Britain,” Putin mentioned.

According to him, two states should diversify economic relations at the current stage.

The diversification of Russian-Turkish relations is obvious in military, economic and cultural cooperation, Erdogan outlined. He expressed a hope that the countries will succeed in recalling the former turnover rate shortly and meet the target of August 2009 — to boost the indicator up to $100bn within 5 years, RIA Novosti reports.

L.A.