Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Ukraine and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey have instructed their ministers to resume negotiations on establishment of a free trade area between the two countries, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
"Negotiations on establishment of a free trade area between Ukraine and Turkey were suspended in 2013. We are jointly instructing our ministries to start technical consultations in March on resumption of negotiations on the process of creation of a free trade area," Yatsenyuk said at a joint press conference with Davutoglu at the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday, 15 February.
Yatsenyuk also proposed that Turkey consider further investment in energy and infrastructure projects in Ukraine, including gas projects. At the same time, he noted that this is the first winter during which Ukraine is not buying Russian gas after 1 January.
The Ukrainian prime minister thanked Turkey for providing a five-year loan of USD 50 million.
As reported, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Natalia Mykolska, who is Ukraine’s trade representative, announced during the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi (Kenya) on 16 December 2015 that the delegations of Ukraine and Turkey had agreed to hold the next round of negotiations on establishment of a free trade area in early 2016. According to Mykolska, the two sides agreed to hold a meeting of an intergovernmental commission in the first quarter of 2016, refrain from using restrictive measures when possible, and prepare proposals on increasing trade and investment in agribusiness, aerospace, and IT at the level of experts.
