TUNIS, February 27. /TASS/. Relations between Tunisia and Russia are very friendly, and there are good prospects for developing and strengthening them, Tunisian Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts Salma Elloumi Rekik told TASS on Tuesday in the run-up to her working visit to Moscow.

"This year we are celebrating the 62nd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Tunisia and Russia showing a close friendship, which is getting stronger all the time," the minister noted. "That shows that the prospects for the development of bilateral relations are promising indeed, and we can only continue strengthening them."

"There is a common desire to bring our relations to the level of strategic partnership in various fields, including economy, trade, culture, security, healthcare and, of course, tourism, where our common interests make us seek and identify opportunities for investment and coordinate efforts to improve bilateral cooperation," she added.

Over the past two years, Salma Elloumi Rekik paid official visits to Russia three times, the minister’s working visit to Moscow is scheduled for March 5-7, 2018. "Visits to Russia over the past two years are part of the strategy of exploring the Russian market for Tunisia, a promising market, on which we are pinning high hopes for the sake of the future of Tunisian tourism," the minister noted.

Today, Tunisia is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Russian citizens. The past two years saw record numbers of tourists from our country. According to official statistics, more than 1.1 million Russian tourists visited Tunisia in 2016 and 2017. Tourism is a driving force for relations between the two countries.