Русский
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan have discussed the situation in the South Caucasus and the Black Sea region and Russian-Turkish economic and energy cooperation, during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held last week.
The Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) is an annual conference on international diplomacy that is held in Antalya, Turkiye since 2021. During the forum, ideas and views on diplomacy, policy and business are exchanged by policy makers, diplomats and academics. The meeting brings together some 3,000 participants for up to three days to discuss global issues across several sessions.
Key bilateral items on the global and regional agendas, including the situation in the Middle East, North Africa, the South Caucasus and the Black Sea region were discussed in detail. Positions were compared on topical issues of the bilateral political dialogue, and trade, economic and energy cooperation.
Navigation in the Black Sea is a key issue, as Turkiye controls the Bosphorus exits to the Eastern Mediterranean and global markets. How this is managed and secured in a post-Ukraine conflict era is a substantial matter. The two countries also collaborate on the joint Turkstream gas pipelines which originate in Russia, are combined with Turkish gas and then exported onwards to the European Union.
Bilateral trade with Russia has seen fluctuations, growing from US$33 billion in 2021 to US$68 billion in 2022, before declining to US$57 billion in 2023. Trade stabilized at US$56 billion in 2024, with Russia being Turkiye’s second largest trade partner after China.
Turkiye is an observer nation to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and is a partner of the BRICS group. Both countries have committed to increasing bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2030.
Further Reading
BRICS, Russia and Turkiye: 2024 Developments and Implications
