Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci touched on the resumption of charter flights from Russia to Turkey, saying, "I hope that these steps will continue to accelerate. With the start of fresh fruit and vegetable exports, Turkish-Russian relations will regain previous levels and improve further."

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Tüfenkci said that Turkey wants to improve relations with neighboring countries in line with mutual interests within the framework of international conventions and agreements.

Referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G20 Leaders' Summit in Hangzhou, Tüfenkci stated that Erdoğan has taken clear steps to improve relations with Russia, underlining that this meeting, which came after the Erdoğan-Putin summit in St. Petersburg last month, speaks further of the positive, future outlook on relations between the two countries.

Defining these steps as "quite positive" for the economy as well, the minister noted that regular charter flights from Russia to Turkey started a couple of days ago, carrying 309 Russian tourists to the country.

Tüfenkci also touched on Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's perspective on foreign policy, which is based on "increasing the number of friends and reducing the number of enemies," saying that Turkey maintains efforts in line with this perspective.

Stressing that Turkey has no troubles with the Egyptian public, Tüfenkci noted that Turkey is always ready to take every step for the good of the Egyptian public, which has deep historical ties with Turkey. He continued to say that Turkish businesses and trade circles are holding talks with Egypt and business and trade chambers will pay a visit to the country after a suitable ground is ensured in the upcoming weeks. He concluded his remarks saying, "Turkish-Egyptian relations will take shape depending on political developments in the upcoming days."