Ukraine in Arabic | Putin to pay state visit to Turkey
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to arrive in Turkey today for a ‘state visit’ – as opposed to the usual ‘working visit’ – Kremlin Advisor Yuri Ushakov told Russian media on Friday. The Kremlin had issued a statement on November 24 that said "the president of Russia will make a working visit to the Republic of Turkey to participate in the fifth session of the High Level Cooperation Council." Countries rank the visits of foreign heads of states in three categories or more. The highest-ranking visit is a ‘state visit’, followed by an ‘official visit’ and then a ‘working visit’.
Putin's delegation consists of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak, Minister of Justice Aleksandr Konovalov, Minister of Transportation Maksim Sokolov, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Maksim Topilin and Minister of Economic Development Aleksey Ulyukayev.
Tatarstan's President Rustam Minnikhanov and some other high-level bureaucrats are also in Ankara to participate in the fifth High-Level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council Summit.
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of the Russian Federation located in the western Volga Federal District.
The plane carrying Putin landed in Ankara's Esenboga airport at around 13.10 local time, where extensive security measures had been taken.
Also, some Mercedes-brand armored cars brought especially from Russia could also be seen at the airport.
Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz and the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov greeted Putin at the airport.
He began his visit by first paying his respects at the Anitkabir mausoleum, the gravesite of Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
He will head to the newly-built Presidential Palace of Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where the two state heads will hold a bilateral meeting.
Putin and Erdogan will also co-chair the fifth High-Level Cooperation Council meeting between Turkey and Russia.
The fourth meeting of the Turkish-Russian High Level Cooperation Council was held in St. Petersburg on Nov. 22, 2013 during which both countries signed five agreements to cooperate in the fields of energy, customs and information.
In an interview with The Anadolu Agency on Nov. 28, Putin termed Turkey an important foreign trade partner for Russia.
He noted that in 2013, bilateral trade turnover reached $32.7 billion. The accumulated Russian direct investments in Turkey exceeded $1.7 billion, and similar Turkish investments in Russia were now close to $1 billion. He agreed with Erdogan that within some years “we can bring our mutual trade up to $100 billion.”