MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia's relations with Turkey, including the issue of fight against terrorism, had become much stable.
Putin received on Tuesday Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul who arrived in Moscow late on Monday on an official visit.
Speaking at the meeting, Putin said that bilateral relations had been gradually developing.
Bilateral relations were at a pleasing and satisfactory level and they were in dialogue also with the new ruling party after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had come to power, Putin said and noted that relations between the two countries, including the issue of fight against terrorism had become much stable.
Noting that economic cooperation increased mutually each year, Putin said that commercial relations had reached 6.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2003 by showing a 15-20 percent increase each year.
Putin said that Turkey was Russia's second biggest commercial partner in Europe after Germany.
Meanwhile, Gul said he was pleased to visit Moscow as the Turkish Foreign Minister after long years, adding that he would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and they would exert efforts to further develop bilateral relations.
Foreign Minister Gul invited Putin to Turkey.
The meeting lasted nearly one hour.
(MS-AÖ) 24.02.2004