The fourth meeting of the Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council, set up in 2010 to coordinate key economic, trade, political and cultural cooperation projects between the two countries, took place in St. Petersburg on November 22.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was in Russia on an official visit, took part in the event. Victor Rashnikov, Chairman of the Board of Directors at MMK, attended the event’s business breakfast.

Speaking at the closing news conference, President Vladimir Putin highlighted MMK’s role. “We are continuing to develop our cooperation in industry and the high-tech sector. This can be seen in our work together in the metals sector. In particular, the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works has invested money and technology in modernising a steel plant at Iskenderun.”

The creation of MMK Metalurji, part of MMK Group, in Turkey, is testament to the results achieved through the two countries’ cooperation. MMK Metalurji is the first, and so far only, Russian metals concern based in Turkey. When the agreement was signed establishing this business in 2007, it was the largest private-sector Russian investment project in Turkey. It opened up new avenues for cooperation and new opportunities for expanding ties between businesspeople in heavy industries in both countries.

About MMK Metalurji

MMK-Metalurji operates an electric arc furnace facility with a casting and milling unit, a cold rolling plant, a hot galvanizing unit and polymer coating line in Iskenderun, and two steel service centers in Iskenderun and Istanbul. It also includes a sea port able to service vessels up to 100,000 tons that supply raw and input materials to the Iskenderun plant and ship products to customers. MMK-Metalurji has an annual production capacity of 2.3 million tons, allowing it to both meet Turkish demand for various metal products and send products for export, particularly to the Middle East and Mediterranean.