When the Russia-Turkey High Level Cooperation Council (HLCC) meets next month in Ankara, the presidents of each country are expected to discuss the issues of lifting visa requirements and deepening economic and military-technical cooperation, as well as developments in war-torn Syria, where each country pursues its own interests and, currently, tries not to interfere in the other’s business.

These were important topics at the March 14 annual Russian-Turkish Joint Strategic Planning Group in Moscow, a precursor meeting to the HLCC. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu focused on a bilateral agenda and preparations for the top-level meeting in Turkey.

During a joint press conference, both ministers stressed the importance of expanding economic ties. Turkey has suffered under sanctions Russia began imposing after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian bomber on the Turkey-Syria border in November 2015. Many of the sanctions have been slowly lifted, but the visa requirements and some agricultural trade bans remain in place.

Lavrov mentioned a 37% increase in bilateral trade to $21.6 billion in 2017, after a drop-off in 2016 because of the sanctions. Trade was at its highest in 2010 at $34 billion, a Russian official said last year.