Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said that Ukraine intends to sign an agreement on a free trade zone (FTA) with Turkey before the end of 2018. “Tomorrow, a delegation headed by the first deputy PM is coming back. We are going to sign an agreement on a free trade zone with Turkey this year,” the head of the government said on the Inter TV channel on Friday. Groysman said that this agreement would positively contribute to the development of the country’s economy.
Ukraine and Turkey have made progress in negotiations on a free trade zone (FTA), agreeing to include agricultural products in the agreement along with the industrial ones, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said.
“Negotiations are ongoing. That is why, since everything has not been agreed yet, I cannot disclose anything. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for May. It is quite progressive that we have agreed with Turkey to include industrial and agricultural goods in the Agreement,” she said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Mykolska, at the beginning of the negotiation process, it was exclusively about industrial goods in the context of the FTA.
“This is a good progress,” she said.
At the same time, she noted that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from the FTA of Ukraine and Israel, negotiations on which have recently completed.
“Even the fact of the completion of the negotiation process will stimulate the business to take a closer look at the Israeli market, especially the small and medium ones, since this market is more inclined to work with SMEs. In addition, Ukrainian products are well-known in this country due to fairly large Ukrainian Diaspora,” she said.
