Ukraine and Turkey will reach an agreement on signing an agreement on a free trade area (FTA) in the next two days, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“We are getting ready to give a powerful economic signal, to sign an FTA agreement with Turkey already within these two days. Our groups are working. I am sure that we will agree,” he said, speaking at the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine plans to open a new embassy building in Turkey next year.
“We have begun to build the first Embassy in Turkey over the past 10 years. It is modern and very cool. We are sure that next year we will open this Embassy. The task is to build it quickly. The main thing is still quality,” Zelensky told reporters at a conference of Ukrainian ambassadors at the state residence Synehora in Ivano-Frankivsk region on Tuesday.
He also added that within the framework of the conference, the issue of updating the diplomatic missions of Ukraine in other countries was discussed.
Turkey is preparing to supply at least 20 more Bayraktar-TB2 attack drones to Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing sources in Turkish government and military-industrial circles.
The Bayraktar company has sold Ukraine “dozens of drones along with control stations and missiles” since 2019, and “orders for at least two dozen more drones are under development,” Bloomberg wrote.
A source in the Turkish government also told Bloomberg that new deals are under development, including the joint production by Turkey of carrier rockets such as the Ukrainian Zenit-2. It could help Turkey develop ballistic missiles, the agency said, although a senior Turkish official said “Ankara has no such intentions.”
In September, defensenews.com reported that Ukraine and Turkey were preparing a contract for 24 Bayraktar-TB2 drones.
The issues of expanding cooperation were discussed in a telephone conversation by the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey, Volodymyr Zelensky and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Zelensky praised Turkey’s continued support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as active involvement in the work of a new international mechanism – the Crimea Platform, the press service of the Ukrainian president said on Wednesday morning.Zelensky thanked the leader of Turkey for the expressed condolences over the death of Ukrainian soldiers in the east of our state.The President of Ukraine paid special attention to the issue of dismissing Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by Russia.Zelensky and Erdogan exchanged views on the security situation in the region, as well as on relevant initiatives to strengthen security in the Black Sea region.The presidents discussed issues of cooperation in the defense sector. The parties stated that the strategic partnership is already strengthening the armed forces of the two countries. The implementation of a number of important projects in the aircraft construction and development of the Navy was noted, as well as the prospects for deepening such interaction.The head of the Ukrainian state, in particular, informed Erdogan about the start of serial production of the An-178 transport aircraft.“I invite Turkey to join the circle of its customers,” Zelensky said.The leaders noted their willingness to complete the preparation of an Agreement on a free trade area in the near future. Attention was also paid to the state of implementation of the agreements reached on a number of projects on the bilateral agenda, in particular, the construction of housing for representatives of the Crimean Tatar people. The parties discussed issues of interaction in the energy sector, among other things, ways to diversify the supply of energy resources.The presidents agreed to hold the 10th anniversary meeting of the High-level Strategic Council in Kyiv in February 2022. It was noted that this important event should be preceded by thorough preparations, in particular, the holding of the second meeting of the Quadriga at the level of the foreign and defense ministers in December this year.
Turkey is continuing negotiations with Gazprom on the bulk of contracts for gas supply to the country through the Turk Stream pipeline, Turkish Deputy Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told reporters.
“We are in talks with Gazprom to increase gas supplies to Turkey because there is a free, uncontracted capacity of 9.75 billion cubic meters of gas in Turk Stream. The contracts expire this year, so there will be such spare capacity in Turk Stream in 2022. We’re talking about new contracts, renewal of some contracts, we are negotiating, I cannot say anything more at this stage,” he said.
He admitted that the situation with Russian gas supplies was complicated by the problem of private importer companies: “The real problem with private importers is arbitration – they offered a discount, then won the arbitration, so private importers suffered.”
“‘Gazprom needs to understand the needs of the domestic market, because today the price of gas is quite important, and it is not easy to increase the price of gas for the population, no one wants to pay more,” the Turkish official added.
“I think Gazprom wants to sell more gas to Turkey, Turkey needs gas, so it’s a ‘perfect alliance.’ Turkey is a growing market, gas consumption is growing, I think Gazprom has the capacity to supply gas to both Turkey and Europe, we have the infrastructure, enough gas pipelines, so I don’t see any problem,” Bayraktar said.
Gas consumption in Turkey is expected to rise to a record 60 billion cubic meters in 2021.
In 2015, Gazprom granted a discount of 10.25% to private Turkish importers, but a year later demanded its cancellation. Claims against Akfel Gaz, Bat Hatt, Kibar Enerji, Avrasya Gaz, and Enerco Enerji were filed with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and arbitration in accordance with UNCITRAL regulations. The arbitration bodies cancelled the discounts for private companies as of January 1, 2017. Failure or difficulty in enforcing the arbitration court ruling in Gazprom’s dispute with Turkish private importers is holding back Russian gas supplies to the country. As a result, some of the former private buyers may not participate in negotiations on new contracts and may be replaced by other importers.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Turkey has embarked on a liberalization of the natural gas market, under which most of the contracts of state-owned Botas have been reassigned to private importers. However, after a failed coup attempt in 2016, Law N674, “On Measures Under the State of Emergency Regime,” was passed, and external management was imposed on these companies by the state Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), which effectively meant nationalization.
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.
