Moscow. July 11. INTERFAX - Russian and Turkish Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed a range of issues of mutual interest during a telephone conversation on the eve of a Russian-Turkish summit meeting scheduled in the near future, the Kremlin's press service reported on Monday.
"Special attention is paid to the tasks of further enhancing economic cooperation, including measures to improve its contractual and legal framework, increasing trade volumes and using national currencies in calculations, as well as continuing uninterrupted supplies of Russian energy carriers," the report says.
It was agreed on close cooperation in these areas at the level of the co-chairs of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission and the leadership of relevant departments, the press service noted.
"The exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine continued, including in the context of coordinating efforts to ensure the safety of navigation in the Black Sea and grain exports to world markets," the message reads.
When discussing the topics of the Syrian settlement, "the importance of trilateral - with the participation of Iranian partners - joint work within the framework of the Astana process was emphasized," the press service reported.
Putin warmly congratulated Erdogan and the entire Turkish people on the Eid al-Adha holiday, the Kremlin added.
Earlier on Monday, TRT World TV channel reported that Erdogan discussed "the installation of security corridors for grain exports in the Black Sea" in a telephone conversation with Putin. In addition, according to TRT World, the Turkish and Russian presidents touched upon the situation in Ukraine, as well as the situation in Syria.
For its part, the Anadolu agency reports that Erdogan said during a telephone conversation that "it is time for the UN to take steps along security corridors in the Black Sea for grain exports."
The Turkish president also spoke about the need to resolve the situation in Ukraine and reiterated Ankara's readiness to "do everything possible" to contribute to this.
Erdogan said on July 5 that Ankara would try to resolve the issue of organizing a corridor for grain exports through Ukrainian ports with Moscow and Kiev within 10 days. "We will try to achieve a result by intensifying negotiations with Russia and Ukraine in a week or 10 days," Sabah quoted Erdogan as saying at a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi in Ankara. At the same time, Erdogan noted that Turkey itself has no problems with grain supplies.
