Ukraine and Turkey have agreed to speed up the work on the text of the Free Trade Agreement and step up cooperation in the transport, energy supply and aviation sectors, as stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the meeting with President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Kyiv.
“We have talked a lot about the common present and future in the trade, economic and investment fields. We have a very ambitious goal of raising bilateral trade to $ 10 billion. We have agreed to give a boost to our representatives working on the text of the FTA. Delegations of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation will receive a corresponding signal as well,” the Head of State said following the 8th session of the High Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey chaired by the two Presidents.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also noted that the ways to intensify cooperation in the field of transport had been found today. “This particularly refers to intermodal and ferry transportation. I believe that Ukraine and Turkey should play a key role in transport flows that connect Eastern and Northern Europe with the Middle East and Central Asia,” he said.
Issues of diversification of energy sources are also important for Ukraine, the President said.
“We have discussed the possibility of transporting the Caspian gas by the TANAP pipeline through the relevant connectors to Ukraine,” the Head of State said.
Among other things, he said, an agreement had been reached to give impetus to cooperation in the aviation industry, in particular the construction and shipment of An-178 aircrafts.
Particular attention was paid to enhancing security in the Black Sea region.
“Our states will cooperate in the field of search and rescue operations in the Black Sea. For this purpose, the relevant ministries are preparing an appropriate intergovernmental agreement,” the Head of State informed.
According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian and Turkish parties stated the growth of mutual tourist flows, cultural and humanitarian exchanges, as well as the development of cooperation in the educational sphere.
“I am convinced that the introduction of visa-free travel and, subsequently, ID card travel have had a positive impact on this growth,” the President of Ukraine said.
For his part, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the negotiations with Volodymyr Zelenskyy extremely fruitful.
