Turkish president expects trade between Turkey and Ukraine able to grow to US$10 bln

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expects trade between Turkey and Ukraine is able to grow to US$10 billion a year. "We have defined a new goal for ourselves – this is a US$10 billion goal. And could Ukraine and Turkey reach the US$10 billion goal? In my opinion, yes, they could, and Mr. President [of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky] completely agrees with me," Erdogan said at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart in Ankara on August 7 following a meeting.

Trade between the two countries in 2018 amounted to about US$4 billion, he said. According to Erdoğan, the two presidents touched on all aspects of Turkish-Ukrainian relations. "We have reviewed the steps that we must take for the development of trade and economy, as well as cooperation. And, finally, it's time to finalize the negotiation process on concluding a free trade agreement talks on which have been going on for many years," Erdoğan said.

In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed the hope that compromises would be found as soon as possible in the negotiations on signing the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Turkey. "President Erdoğan assured that we can achieve an amount [of trade] of US$10 billion. Concluding the free trade agreement will also contribute to this. I hope that we will be able to reach a compromise on this issue and prepare all the necessary documents as soon as possible," Zelensky said. The two presidents also discussed bilateral cooperation in the construction of roads, airports, seaports, as well as cooperation in defense, energy and tourism, Zelensky said. As UNIAN reported, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in early June 2019 announced the agreement on a free trade area with Turkey was 99% ready at that time.