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.
The Turkish embassy to Russia has denied information from a number of Russian media outlets about a possible closure of the country’s borders to foreign tourists due to the spread of the Indian variant of coronavirus.
“This information, which was published with reference to an interview with Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, is untrue. The minister did not make such statements during his speech,” the embassy told Interfax.
On Monday, a number of Russian media outlets reported the possible closure of Turkey’s borders to foreign tourists due to the spread of the Delta strain, a new variant of Covid-19, citing the Turkish minister of culture and tourism.
Meanwhile, as the minister said in an interview with CNN Turk, the improvement of the epidemic situation in the country depends first on the rate of vaccination. Ersoy believes that if citizens are actively vaccinated, then Turkey can quickly reach a complete rectification of the epidemiological situation in the country.
As for the spread of the Indian variant of coronavirus and the possibility of reclosing the country’s borders, the culture and tourism minister said that in the current situation, no guarantees can be given, but the country is closely monitoring the Delta strain.
Next week Turkey is ready to receive a Ukrainian delegation to finalize the technical aspects of the draft agreement on a free trade area (FTA) between the countries, Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said.
“Our delegations have already fruitfully worked on the agreement. And next week we are ready to host a delegation from Ukraine to finalize the technical aspects of the draft agreement,” the press service of the Economy Ministry of Ukraine said, citing Muş, following his videoconference with First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Liubchenko on Monday.
The Turkish minister said the delegations should intensify their work and in the near future submit a draft agreement on an FTA between the two countries.
“We have several positions left where we must find a balance in our trade relations. It should be noted that during the negotiations with our Turkish colleagues we came to constructive and progressive solutions that will allow us to protect domestic markets where necessary and prepare an agreement, which will contribute to the deepening of trade relations and the development of the economies of our countries,” Liubchenko said.
According to the Economy Ministry, the videoconference was held following a phone conversation between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
New conditions for entering Turkey in connection with changes in the sanitary and epidemic situation in the country for all foreign citizens will take effect from June 4, 2021, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine reported.
“Now, to cross the Turkish border, tourists must present a negative PCR test, made no more than 72 hours before crossing the border, or a quick antigen test made within the last 48 hours,” the ministry’s press service said.
At the same time, if a passenger traveling to Turkey presents a document issued by the official authorities of the respective country, which indicates that he was vaccinated at least 14 days before arriving in Turkey or that they have recovered from the disease in the last six months, PCR test submission and quarantine compliance are not required.
“This means that the abolition of the need for a PCR test, which was introduced from May 15, 2021, for persons arriving in Turkey by land, air or sea from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Great Britain, Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Estonia, is temporarily suspended and will operate until June 3, inclusively,” the Ministry of Culture said.
Earlier it was reported that from June 1, Turkey returned the requirement for Ukrainian citizens to enter the country with a negative PCR test.
