Shmyhal says Ukraine will strike free trade deal with Turkey next year
Ukraine expects to sign a long-awaited free trade deal with Turkey in 2022, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at the Gala Event: Ukraine and World Ahead-2022, hosted by NV in Kyiv on Dec.16.
A “balanced agreement” may be reached by February, when the president of Turkey is expected to visit Ukraine, Shmyhal said.
“By that time, we will have reached a balanced agreement,” the prime minister said. “There were certain questions raised about this deal by both Ukraine and Turkey, but it’s a matter of negotiating and setting your country’s targets, as in any business agreement. Now we have an idea for a balanced deal, and so we’re close to signing it.”
The prime minister also added that trade and economic relations between Ukraine and Turkey are “thriving.” He said Ukraine “has made a huge political effort to make this trade deal possible.”
Shmyhal said that the deal is of utmost importance to Ukraine as it opens up new possibilities for the country.
Talks on creating a free trade zone between Ukraine and Turkey started as far back as 2011. In April 2021 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced they had agreed “to review” points of dispute to restart the stalled free trade talks.
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