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.
