23 January 2019•Update: 23 January 2019
By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held their first face-to-face meeting of 2019 on Wednesday.
The meeting in the Russian capital Moscow was close to press and lasted one hour and 50 minutes.
Erdogan and Putin will hold a joint news conference following the meeting between the delegations of the two countries.
Earlier, Erdogan along with his several Cabinet members and other officials arrived in Moscow for a daylong visit.
"Dear Mr. President, very glad to see you in Moscow. We continue our practice of regular meetings, consultations, exchange of views. I would like to note that this gives positive results," Putin said while greeting Erdogan.
He noted that in 10 months of 2018, the Russian-Turkish trade turnover increased more than all of the previous year.
He also said that the growth in the number of Russian tourists -- which increased by 30 percent last year, reaching a record figure of 6 million people -- shows how the citizens of their countries "perceive the change in the nature and quality of Russian-Turkish relations".
"Mr. President, dear friend, this is largely your merit and your personal achievement because you devote a lot of time to it," he said.
Erdogan, for his part, stressed that developments on tourism help Turkish and Russian people socialize.
"Our commercial relations are also on the rise ... we have set a big goal between us -- to reach the $100 billion trade volume," Erdogan said.
Cooperation on security issues in Syria
On bilateral projects, Putin said they "are being implemented, everything is going according to plan."
"And of course, we are actively cooperating on regional security issues in Syria," Putin said.
Putin also expressed his condolences to Erdogan over the death of 16 Turkish citizens, who were killed in a twin vessel fire in the Kerch Strait on Monday.
Erdogan in return conveyed condolences for the deceased Russian citizens in the incident.
The vessels, which together were carrying 31 sailors -- including 16 Turkish citizens -- at the time of , had been sailing under the Tanzanian flag.
The Kerch Strait links the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.
Putin said the incident had happened in neutral waters as one of the vessels was transferring its cargo of liquified gas to the other.
"Our services reacted quickly -- did everything to save the people. But it is still a great tragedy for the families, for the victims. Please accept our condolences," he said.
Putin also praised the development of Russian-Turkish cooperation in 2018 and said the trade turnover between the two countries shows further growth.
* Erdogan Cagatay Zontur and Can Erozden in Ankara contributed to this story
