Russia has agreed to end the ban on Turkish tomatoes, a key sector of the country’s agriculture. The move from Moscow comes amid improving relations with Ankara.
The ban will officially stop on May 1. Under the new agreement, Turkey will be allowed to export up to 50,000 tons of tomatoes to Russia per year. In return, Russia will be reportedly be allowed to export beef to Turkey. Prior to the ban, Turkey exported 360,000 tons of tomatoes per year to Russia.
Moscow imposed an embargo on the supply of a number of products from Turkey from January 1, 2016 after Turkish air forces shot down a Russian Su-24 jet in Syria. Since the fall of 2016, restrictions have been gradually removed. However, the ban on the supply of tomatoes, one of Turkey's most important exports, continued until November 2017, when the restrictions were eased, but not fully cancelled.
The countries cooperate on a number of projects in the energy sector. Russia has been building Turkey’s first nuclear power station and has also been implementing the Turkish Stream pipeline, which can also be extended from Turkey to Europe.
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