Russia, Turkey to Address Energy, Anti-Dumping Limits on August 18

Russia and Turkey plan to discuss energy, limits on anti-dumping measures and import curbs on Turkish tomatoes in Izmir on August 18, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday.

ULAN-UDE (Republic of Buryatia, Russia), (Sputnik) — The Russian official told reporters the next bilateral consultations are set to be held at the August 18-August 27 Izmir International Fair.

"Our range of topics is almost always identical. This includes both energy and certain restrictions in the field of industry. We agreed on consultations on this topic on individual anti-dumping measures that were previously introduced," Dvorkovich said.

The Russian-Turkish trade has been facing significant difficulties since 2016 when Russia introduced a food embargo against Turkey in response to the 2015 downing of a Russian aircraft over Syria. In March, Russia’s National Association of Exporters of Agricultural Products (NAEAP) said that the Turkish authorities had suspended issuance of import licenses for Russian grain cultures and vegetable oil on March 15.

In May, Putin met with Erdogan in Sochi, with the two leaders agreeing to further ease mutual restrictive measures. Russia, however, insisted on keeping restrictions on Turkish tomato imports as well as postponing the reintroduction of a visa-free regime for Turkish nationals. Also in May, Turkish exporters decided to limit the share of Russian agricultural import in the whole import to 20–25 percent but a week later the restriction was lifted.