Çavuşoğlu, Lavrov to discuss bilateral ties, Syria in Moscow


Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on March 14, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Speaking at a weekly press conference in Moscow on Friday, Zakharova told reporters Çavuşoğlu and Lavrov will hold a session of the Russian-Turkish Intergovernmental Joint Commission.

"The two ministers will discuss bilateral relations, joint projects, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and Turkish Stream pipeline, as well as the latest situation of the Syrian crisis and Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, Russia," she said.

Held in late January, the Sochi summit, brokered by Turkey, Russia and Iran, was supposed to bring warring sides together to find an ultimate solution to the Syrian war and create a new constitution.

The ministers will also discuss preparations for a high-level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council.

The Turkish-Russian High-Level Cooperation Council (ÜDİK), where relations between the two countries have been discussed to a great extent, is held once a year with the attendance of the two countries' presidents and ministers and is hosted by Ankara and Moscow in sequence.

There are three structures in the ÜDİK: the Joint Strategic Planning Group, the Joint Economic Commission and the Social Forum. Decisions are derived from these three structures throughout the year and are added to the agenda for ÜDİK meetings for evaluation and approval.