Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım will be paying an official two-day visit to Russia upon the invitation of his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the chairwoman of the Council of the Federation, Valentina Matviyenko, before speaking at a scheduled conference at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). The prime ministerial visit to Moscow from Dec. 5-7 will focus on key items on the agenda, including the economy, reducing the price of natural gas exports to Turkey, the TurkStream gas project, lifting the ban on the imports of certain agricultural goods, visa-free travel and the use of local currency in trade between the two countries.The visit is expected to speed up the normalization process, which has been ongoing since Nov. 2015. All expenses incurred by Prime Minister Yıldırım during the trip will be paid in rubles in the first concrete step taken to normalize relations since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke about trading with Russia in its local currency on Sunday.Prime Minister Yıldırım will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Faruk Çelik, Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı, and Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan.After Turkey shot down a Russian war plane for violating its airspace near the Syrian border on Nov. 24 last year, trade relations were halted, political ties severed and sanctions were imposed on Turkey.President Erdoğan's visit to Russia saw the initiation of normalization talks between the two countries while the prime minister's current visit to Russia, accompanied by a delegation of six ministers, is expected to reinforce ties. Meetings between Yıldırım and Prime Minister Medvedev will also address the use of local currency in trade as well as tourism.Import ban will be addressedWhile Russia's ban on agricultural Turkish imports after the downing of the Russian jet included 21 products, five agricultural products were removed from the ban on Oct. 9 as normalization talks stabilized; namely, oranges, mandarin oranges, apricots, peaches and plums.According to information obtained by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the delegation meetings between Russia and Turkey will discusses the eradication of the import ban on eggplants, peppers, pomegranates, zucchini and lettuce.The Turkish delegation will demand a regulation that will make Turkish exporters a more active player in poultry export to Russia, which has a 150-200 ton deficit. The regulation demand will bring up the customs tax and quota restrictions.Steps to normalizationLast October, the Erdoğan-Putin meeting was considered a milestone in normalization talks between Russia and Turkey, bringing a consensus on the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant project.An inter-governmental agreement on the "Turkish Stream Natural Gas Pipeline Project," which will transmit Russian natural gas to Europe through Turkey, was signed. Within the framework of this memorandum, it was agreed that the prices of natural gas exported to Turkey would be cut.Besides Russia's tour sales to Turkey, the resumption of the non-scheduled flights, and permission to 55 Turkish firms and six Turkish banks to employ Turkish workers and personnel have also come to the fore as important steps in the normalization of relations.While various negotiations were held between the two countries on the development of business cooperation in space, shipping and other fields, it was announced that the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) was ready to participate in the design and launching bidding of the Turkish missiles and that organization of mutual culture and tourism years between Turkey and Russia was proposed. This is also supported and will be later worked on by the relevant ministers.The establishment of a joint investment fund was also decided at the Turkish-Russian Intergovernmental Joint Economic Commission meeting held in Istanbul in October.First concrete step towards local currenciesThe Prime Ministry's Press Office noted in an announcement regarding Prime Minister Yıldırım's visit to Russia that talks between the two parties include plans to evaluate initiatives aimed at strengthening economic cooperation and discussing the general status of bilateral relations, especially regarding joint projects in the fields of energy, agriculture, tourism, industry and transportation, as well as regional and international developments.The statement also suggested that the first concrete step in normalizing commercial relations will be taken by Prime Minister Yıldırım during his visit to Russia following the meeting held between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Putin. It was during this meeting where the two sides discussed the usage of Turkish liras and Russian rubles in the commercial relations between the two countries. Adding that during the visit to Russia the statement said that all the accommodation and expenses of Turkish delegation will be paid with Russian ruble with the instruction of the prime minister.