By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a visit to Russia this Friday, March 10 to attend a high-level meeting, the presidency said in a statement Tuesday.

During the meeting, bilateral relations between Ankara and Moscow are expected to be discussed "extensively", the statement said.

The High-Level Cooperation Council (HLCC) is usually headed by Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and includes government ministers from both states.

It added that the leaders will exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria.

"Several agreements will also be signed during the visit, which is expected to contribute to the development of Turkish-Russian relations," it said.

The last Erdogan-Putin meeting was held last August after Turkey and Russia patched up the fallout from the November 2015 downing of a Russian jet over the Turkey-Syria border.

Since the summer, Russia has relaxed the sanctions imposed on Turkey in response to the jet incident and the countries have worked together to bring a cease-fire and political solution to the conflict in Syria.

Relations were tested last December when Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was shot to death at an art exhibit in the capital Ankara. But Putin called the assassination a "provocation" to undermine relations between Turkey and Russia as well as effort to resolve the Syrian crisis.

A cease-fire agreement in Syria had been reached under guarantees from Russia and Turkey in December.