Ukraine and Turkey elaborate an opportunity to sign the FTA Agreement in order to expand trade-economic and investment cooperation. It was stated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the meeting with journalists following the negotiations with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“We have agreed on further expansion of trade, economic and investment cooperation. In 2018, our bilateral trade volume amounted to over $ 4 billion. And I am sure that this is far from our potential limit,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
According to the President, unleashing this potential will be facilitated by the implementation of joint projects and the liberalization of bilateral trade.
"This will be also facilitated by the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement. I hope that our parties will be able to reach a compromise on this issue as soon as possible and prepare all the necessary documents,” the Head of State said.
He also noted that the cooperation between the countries was extremely intense and stressed that by the end of the year, the next (eighth) meeting of the High Level Strategic Council would be held in Kyiv.
In addition, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, cooperation on the construction of roads, airports, seaports, cooperation in the sphere of defense, energy and tourism was discussed.
The President is confident that Ukraine will demonstrate economic growth in the coming years.
“For this purpose, we will carry out a number of necessary reforms this autumn, which will make Ukraine a magnet for foreign investors. We have already started active work in this area and I am glad to invite Turkish business to us. I am the guarantor of your comfortable work in Ukraine. Let's grow together,” the Head of State stressed.
Speaking of the results of the meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the achievement of mutual understanding and foundation for the fruitful dialogue in the future.
“The generous Turkish land has repeatedly given us, Ukrainians, great victories. In Turkey, our singer Ruslana won the Eurovision Song Contest. In Turkey, Shakhtar Donetsk won the UEFA Cup. I believe that in the future, our countries will have a lot of great joint victories,” the President summarized and invited his Turkish colleague to visit Ukraine.
In turn, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan noted that the parties had discussed all the aspects of the Ukraine-Turkey relations today.
“We have revised the steps we need to take to develop trade and economic cooperation. Finally, the time has come to finalize the negotiation process for the Free Trade Agreement, which has been under negotiation for many years,” the President of Turkey said.
He said that the trade turnover between Ukraine and Turkey could reach $ 10 billion. According to the Turkish President, the achievement of this goal is quite real.
“We have agreed with Mr. Zelenskyy to accelerate the activities aimed at investing in infrastructure and construction. We also exchanged views on the ways we can increase investments, on the common steps that can be taken to boost the economic development of our relationship,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, noting that another topic of negotiations was cooperation in the security field.
“I think we will take all the necessary steps shortly to implement all these plans,” the President of Turkey concluded.
