In comments made during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized the importance he ascribes to national currencies for cross-border settlements of bilateral trade between their two nations.

The Turkish President said, “I believe that the fact that the heads of our central banks will meet here today is important from the point of view of a step towards the transition to national currencies in bilateral relations between us.”

In response, President Putin pointed out that development of the trade relationship between the two countries continues to be positive, and economic cooperation between the two nations is diversifying beyond the traditional sectors it has occupied, such as energy and agriculture.

Erdogan replied, “We are very pleased that the volume of our bilateral trade is currently $62 billion, and we are moving towards our goal of $100 billion.”

Despite the two nations disagreeing on some geopolitical issues, the Kremlin and Ankara have been seeking to deepen their economic relationship recently. The meeting in Sochi was just the latest such effort. Presidents Putin and Erdogan had met in April, where they agreed to foster mutual investments and assist Russian and Turkish companies enter each other’s markets.

Türkiye and Russia officially signed a “roadmap for economic cooperation” which seeks to increase bilateral trade turnover between the two nations to more than $100 billion per year. Both nations have also agreed that they will introduce the Russian ruble as a settlement currency in future bilateral trade deals, such as in payments for Russian energy products like natural gas.