Ukraine and Turkey are considering the meeting of the Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey co-chaired by both presidents in February 2022 as an opportunity to sign a free trade agreement (FTA), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“Next year, Ukraine and Turkey will celebrate 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. To mark this occasion, we plan to hold the next session of the Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey under the co-chairmanship of both presidents. A number of agreements and documents are currently being prepared ahead of next year’s Strategic Council. Both sides see the February 2022 meeting as an opportunity to finally sign a long-awaited Turkish-Ukrainian free trade agreement following years of negotiations,” Kuleba wrote in an article for the Atlantic Council released on Thursday.
Once in force, he said, this free trade deal will significantly boost already strong trade ties between the two Black Sea countries and facilitate the establishment of new business links.
“With bilateral trade steadily growing, we also plan to hold a joint intergovernmental trade and economic commission in the near future,” Kuleba said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also said that Ukraine and Turkey are developing plans to unite forces in the production of Ukrainian Antonov aircraft.
“Our Turkish friends were very impressed with the capabilities of Ukrainian Antonov aircraft for extinguishing fires. During the last meeting with my Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Lviv in October 2021, he expressed Turkey’s interest in Antonov aircraft. Ukraine welcomes this interest and is ready to explore the possibilities of joint aircraft production Antonov and international exports,” the minister said.
Kuleba said that with the climate crisis escalating, the threat of wildfires in Turkey and dozens of other countries around the globe looks like it is here to stay, along with increased demand for firefighting aviation.
“This makes the proposed aviation industry cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine strategically appealing. We plan to discuss this topic in more depth during our next Quadriga meeting of foreign and defense ministers, which will take place in December 2021 in Ankara,” he said.
The tenth meeting of the high-level strategic council between Ukraine and Turkey will be held in early 2022, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“The main topic of our today’s talks is the preparation of the tenth meeting of the high-level strategic council, chaired by Presidents Zelensky and Erdogan. The meeting of this strategic council will take place early next year,” Kuleba said at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Lviv on Thursday.
The Minister pointed out that the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Turkey is currently at the highest point of development over the past 30 years.
Kuleba pointed out that the ministers agreed on specific steps that will speed up consultations between the ministries of economies of Ukraine and Turkey on signing a free trade agreement.
“Mevlüt and I are convinced that we and our colleagues from our governments must make every effort to fulfill as soon as possible the instructions of the two presidents and sign a free trade agreement. And today we have agreed on specific steps that will speed up consultations between the ministries of our countries’ economies,” he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is paying a working visit to Ukraine (Lviv) on October 7-8.
Ukrainian rescuers have returned to Ukraine from Turkey, where they were sent to assist in extinguishing large-scale forest fires, the press service of the State Emergency Service said.
“Two AN-32P aircraft landed at the airfield of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Operational Rescue Service of Civil Protection of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the town of Nizhyn,” the message says.
The head of the Service Mykola Chechotkin congratulated the Ukrainian rescuers on their return, noting that Ukraine is proud of them, and the citizens of Turkey are grateful for their invaluable help.
As reported, on July 30, planes of the State Emergency Service went to Turkey to participate in extinguishing large-scale forest fires in this country.
The fires broke out on July 28 in the tourist province of Antalya and spread to the provinces of Osmaniye, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Adana, Mersin and Mugla. The area of the fires was 1,500 hectares, four people died, about 183 people were injured, more than 100 buildings were damaged.
Ukraine and Turkey are at the final stage of negotiations on a free trade area (FTA) after large moves made in the negotiation process, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Oleksiy Liubchenko said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“By the way, negotiations on an agreement on FTA with Turkey are now almost on completing. There have been significant positive moves in the negotiations,” he said.
Liubchenko also said that Ukraine had carried out preparatory work for negotiations with Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
Speaking about other areas of work of the Ministry of Economy in terms of international trade, he noted the unblocking of the work of the interdepartmental commission with Kazakhstan, following the meeting of which the ministry receives feedback from the parties.
“We are also systematically working with China, coordinated by Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. We have begun a joint study of the possibility of a free trade area agreement. The results will be known next year. On this basis, a political decision will be made whether to start negotiations. We are also actively working on preparations for negotiations with Indonesia and Vietnam,” he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar as Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey.
Relevant decree No. 336/2021 of July 30 was published on the website of the head of state.
“To appoint Bodnar Vasyl Myronovych as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Turkey,” the decree says.
Bodnar has been serving as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine since November 2017. In 2013-2015, he was an adviser to the Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Turkey, in 2015-2017 – the Consul General of Ukraine in Istanbul, the representative of Ukraine to the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
Nova Poshta Global, part of Nova Poshta Group, began delivering goods from online stores in Turkey; goods can be ordered through the NP Shopping website, the company’s press service said on Tuesday.
“Now Turkey is the third largest exporter of clothing in the world, and local manufacturers are actively developing their own brands – today there are more than 500 of them in the market. We expect orders from such online platforms as Hepsibursada, Trendyol, Morhipo, Collezione and others, because very few top Turkish brands are sold abroad online. Of course, the catalog of online stores will be constantly replenished with new names, so Ukrainians will feel like shopping in Turkey,” the press service said, citing Deputy Director for Product Development and Marketing of Nova Poshta Global Olha Volodina.
The company notes that for Turkish goods, the shipping cost will decrease in accordance with the weight of the shipment. To calculate the final shipping cost, one can use the calculator on the NP Shopping website.
Delivery times for orders from Turkey are from eight working days.
