Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Russia will become an official partner of the 86th Izmir International Fair to be held in Turkey on August 18-22 for the first time.

Within its framework, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development intends to discuss the remaining "sensitive" economic issues with Turkish partners, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Gruzdev told reporters.

"In August, an international fair will be held in the city of Izmir. Russia was invited as a partner country and confirmed this status," Gruzdev said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum "Summer Davos" in Dalian.

"There can be new topics for cooperation, and of course, we ... with our partners from the Ministry of Economy of Turkey, will resolve all sensitive remaining issues," he said.

A number of round tables on various areas of cooperation, in particular, on agriculture and machine building, will be held in the framework of the fair, according to the Deputy Minister.

The Ministry of Economic Development jointly with the Ministry of Industry and Trade now forms a national exposition, the area of which will be more than 600 square meters, he added.

Izmir International Fair is the largest exhibition event in the business life of Turkey, aimed at developing the country's foreign economic activities, establishing business contacts, developing investments and innovations. The main theme of the event in 2017 is "Energy and Innovation".

Russia had imposed a number of economic sanctions, including the suspension of visa-free travel, on Turkey at the beginning of last year in response to the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber.

The Moscow-Ankara relations began to improve after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized over the jet incident. Russia lifted the flight ban, but food embargo on Turkey's food and agricultural products remains partly in place.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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