Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in person for the first time on Tuesday at the United Nations, in a milestone as two countries have been working to repair relations long strained by disputes over policies toward the Palestinians.
Speaking to reporters after the UN General Assembly in New York, Erdogan said he and Netanyahu had agreed on mutual visits in the coming period, and that energy cooperation would ramp up after these.
"God willing, we will take this step without much delay and we will start energy drilling operations with Israel. We will also start operating energy transfer networks to Europe through Turkey, not just to Turkey," he was cited as saying.
"At the moment, our total trade volume is $9.5 billion. We agreed to raise this $9.5 billion trade volume to a minimum of $15 billion in the first phase," he said. READ MORE
