Russia-Turkey trade doubles

Ankara expects energy and transport cooperation with Moscow to deepen

Bilateral trade between Russia and Turkey grew 100% in April, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The minister attributed the surge in commerce to soaring energy prices arising from the crisis that has hit Europe over the past several months.

Cavusoglu said Moscow and Ankara continued to boost cooperation in various sectors of the economy, including energy and transport, “despite all the pressure.” He added that Turkish Airlines continues to fly to Russia.

“We are seeing positive results from this process,” the minister said ahead of a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

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In March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara could accept the use of the ruble to carry out trade with Russia. At the same time, the Assembly of Turkish Exporters said that the disconnection of Russian banks from SWIFT would boost trade between the two countries in national currencies.

Russia is one of Turkey’s main trading partners. The country’s biggest exports to Turkey are commodities such as refined petroleum, crude oil and wheat. Trade between the two countries has been growing by about 10% annually over the past several years.

Last August, the Turkish trade ministry said Ankara was determined to bring the overall volume of commercial exchange between the countries to $100 billion a year.

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