Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Istanbul. The meeting is being held ahead of the inauguration ceremony of TurkStream natural gas pipeline project in the city.

A ceremony will be held with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov of Bulgaria in Istanbul on January 8, 2020 for the completion of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline, which will carry the Russian natural gas to Turkey and Europe.

President Erdoğan is expected to hold meetings with visiting heads of state and government on the sidelines of the ceremony.

All aspects of bilateral relations will be discussed during the talks.

Besides bilateral relations, views on regional and international issues, Syria and Libya in particular, are expected to be exchanged.

TurkStream is a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Turkey. It starts from Russkaya compressor station near Anapa in Russia's Krasnodar Region, crossing the Black Sea to the receiving terminal at Kıyıköy. The TurkStream project replaced the South Stream project that was cancelled in 2014.

The pipeline is estimated to cost €11.4 billion. The pipeline has two lines with a total capacity of 31.5 billion m3/a (1.11 trillion cu ft/a) of natural gas. The first line supplies Turkey and the second line transport natural gas further to South East and Central Europe. Both lines are using pipes with an outer diameter of 810 mm (32 in). Pipes have a wall thickness of 39 mm (1.5 in) and a concrete coating of 80 mm (3.1 in). The internal pressure of the pipeline is 300 bars (4,400 psi). The pipeline is installed in water depths up to 2,200 m (7,200 ft). (ILKHA)