Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are scheduled to meet Friday in the Turkish resort province of Antalya on the Mediterranean cost.

In a statement Wednesday, the foreign ministry said Turkish and Russian ministers will co-chair the Seventh Turkish-Russian Joint Strategic Planning Group Meeting, a subsidiary mechanism of the Turkish-Russian High Level Cooperation Council.

The two sides will discuss bilateral relations as well as current regional and international developments, specifically the cooperation in Syria.

Following the talks, "The 2019-2020 Plan for Consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the Republic of Turkey and the Russian Federation," will be signed, the statement added. Expected to be discussed in the meeting is the process of visa liberalization for Russian citizens visiting Turkey. The initiative has recently been launched, as Minister Çavuşoğlu announced Monday.

Facilitating visa-free travel for Russian visitors is of particular importance since 2019 has been declared the Turkish tourism year in Russia. The move is expected to add 600,000 Russian tourists to the annual level of nearly 6 million that Turkey normally hosts.

The last meeting of the Turkish-Russian High Level Cooperation Council took place in March 2017, during which, steps to further bilateral trade were taken and a $1 billion investment fund was established.

Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to visit Russia to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on April 8.