Kyiv and Ankara are preparing to sign this autumn an agreement on a free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and Turkey, Turkish Ambassador to Ukraine Mehmet Samsar has said, Interfax reports.
“We will try to sign an agreement on a free trade area during the visit of President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to Turkey this autumn,” the Turkish ambassador said in Kyiv on Wednesday at a Turkey-Ukraine trade and investment meeting organized by the European Business Association (EBA) in cooperation with UNDP in Ukraine.
Samsar said significant progress had been made in the Ukrainian-Turkish strategic cooperation. The diplomat in particular pointed to the liberalization of the visa regime between the countries, which according to him, has helped increase the number of visas issued both to Ukrainian and Turkish citizens by 50-60%.
At the same time, the diplomat noted that the cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey still has a lot of untapped potential.
“Current trade ($6.5 billion in 2012, according to the Turkish side) does not reflect the potential for cooperation between our countries. Ukraine is developing very fast,” he said.
Among the fastest growing sectors of the Ukrainian economy with the potential for investment, Samsar named the IT-sector, the farming industry and the energy sector. He said Turkish businesses are also interested in operation and potential of industrial parks in Ukraine.
“We believe that the Black Sea is not an obstacle for us,” the diplomat said.
