[ad_1]
Turkey is committed to concluding the free trade agreement with Ukraine by the end of the year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday, adding that the two countries were aiming to reach a free trade agreement with Ukraine by the end of the year. to reach a trade volume of 10 billion dollars through this agreement.
Erdoğan made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, held after the seventh meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Istanbul.
The president said that the Ottoman Empire was one of the first countries to recognize the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918 and marked this year the centenary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Erdoğan said relations between the two countries would continue to improve, adding that the number of tourists arriving in Turkey from Ukraine in 2018 had exceeded one million.
Erdoğan said regional issues were discussed at our meeting, adding that Turkey strongly supports the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political integrity of Ukraine.
"We have repeatedly said that we would not recognize illegal annexation in Crimea," Erdoğan said, adding that Turkey would continue to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars living in Crimea or left since the occupation. .
Erdoğan said Turkey is monitoring the efforts of the OSCE Special Observer Mission, led by Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan (Turkey), to the hope of a swift and peaceful end to the armed conflict in the Donbass region, in eastern Ukraine. with admiration. The president added that Turkey supports the reform program in Ukraine.
He also said that the cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine would continue to end the presence of the terrorist group Güléniste (FETÖ) within the country of Eastern Europe.
Poroshenko confirmed Erdoğan's remarks about the FTA, saying that he had given clear instructions to speed up the completion of negotiations for the conclusion of the agreement.
"We are confident that these figures – a 20% growth in turnover, 20% of investment and number of tourists in Turkey – are a significant and significant achievement today. President [Erdoğan], have even more ambitious goals, "said Poroshenko.
The Ukrainian President also expressed the hope that the Turkish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (TIKA) would contribute to the reconstruction of infrastructure in the war-ravaged Donbass.
"We trust Turkey and we would be happy to see it contribute to peace in Donbass by sending peacekeepers as part of an American mission," Poroshenko said.
Turkish Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Minister of Finance and Treasury Berat Albayrak, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also attended the meeting held at Yıldız Palace in Beşiktaş district. The spokesman for the presidency, Ibrahim Kalın. Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Trade Stepan Kubiv, Attorney General Yuriy Lutsenko, Deputy Prime Minister Gennadiy Zubko and Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin accompanied Poroshenko to the meeting. meeting.
Prior to the meeting, the two leaders also held bilateral talks.
The two countries have signed a development and cooperation agreement, signed by the President of the Turkish Agency for Cooperation and Coordination (TIKA), Serdar Çam, and Ukrainian President Kubiv. The Turkish presidency of the defense industry and Ukraine also signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of the meeting.
In Istanbul, Poroshenko also signed an agreement with Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Greek Orthodox Church on the independence of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
[ad_2]Source link
