Russia & Turkey: Removing Trade Barriers in Exchange for Tourist Safety

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the negotiations in Sochi, agreed to remove all trade restrictions except for the ban on the import of tomatoes. “The trade barrier will be removed after Russian producers pay off all investments,” Putin promised.

He stressed that it was possible to stop the fall of mutual trade, which, he said, had shown a slight increase in turnover (3%) in early 2017.

Another important topic, according to the president, was the issue of ensuring the safety of domestic tourists at Turkish resorts. He cited data according to which in the May holidays a third of Russians holidaying abroad were choosing Turkey.

“The special services of Russia are ready to provide all assistance to their Turkish colleagues in these matters,” Putin said. “However, Russia will not yet remove restrictions on visa-free travel for the Turks, in connection with the growing terrorist threat”.

Dimitri Dolaberidze