Turkey and the United States announced the culmination of months of talks to set up a procedure for improving their strained ties, eyeing cooperation in the areas of economy and defence. Ministerial discussions will follow, the two sides said in a joint statement on Monday. That confirmed the progress, since talks at ministerial level have been the intended format for the attempt at repairing relations. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over such issues as Turkey’s acquisition of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia, policy differences in Syria, Libya and the eastern M…