ANTALYA, June 30. /TASS/. The plans to construct the Istanbul Canal are nothing changing parameters of foreign vessel presence in the Black Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday at a press conference following talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

"We are satisfied with interaction with our Turkish friends and colleagues on the issues of implementing the Montreux Convention," he said. "Today, we established at the talks that the plans to construct the Istanbul Canal will not have any effect on the parameters of presence of foreign navies in the Black Sea."

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the beginning of construction of the Istanbul Canal, which will run between the Marmara Sea to bypass the Bosporus. The project was first unveiled by Erdogan back in 2011.

The canal is believed to have a daily transit capacity of 160-180 vessels, including tankers carrying up to 300,000 tonnes of shipments. The Bosporus Strait currently manages 43,000 ships annually and is very difficult to navigate. Experts believe that the vessel transit through the Bosporus will exceed 70,000 in the next 10-15 years.