Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said on Thursday his country looks forward to supporting reconstruction in Ukraine with investments and a free trade agreement.
Bolat said Turkey is eager to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reach his goal of $10 billion in bilateral trade.
Bolat traveled to Kyiv with Turkish Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Yumakli and several business executives for the inaugural meeting of the Turkey-Ukraine Reconstruction Task Force. The Turkish delegation met with Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal, and several other top Ukrainian officials.
Bolat and his delegation also made time for meetings with leaders of the Gagauzes, the Turkic community in Ukraine, and for religious observances with the Muslim Crimean Tartars.
Bolat stressed that the Turkey-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement is a key element of reaching the bilateral trade volume Zelensky desires, and for helping Turkey play a substantial role in postwar reconstruction.
Turkey ratified its side of the free trade agreement (FTA) in August 2024 after 15 years of negotiations, but Ukraine has been slow to reciprocate, in part due to disruptions from the Russian invasion but also because there are some details of the agreement pertaining to key Ukrainian exports like metal and grain.
Turkish officials have lately been boasting of big Turkish business investments in Ukraine and growing bilateral trade even without the FTA, and predicting that $10 billion in trade volume will be very possible once it has been signed.
Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine is finally prepared to put the FTA into effect.
“Our state considers Turkey as one of our strategic partners, as well as one of the partners in terms of security guarantees, and is ready to ratify the Free Trade Agreement with Turkey during the upcoming visit of President Erdogan,” he said. The date for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s prospective visit has not been set.
“It is important that Turkish business is already represented in Ukraine. Our state appreciates this, as well as the assistance and support, including the supply of Bayraktar drones,” Zelensky said.
Bolat said Zelensky “expressed his expectation that the Free Trade Agreement would be approved on the Ukrainian side in a short time,” and “shared his views on how Turkish companies would play a leading role in the reconstruction efforts.”
The Turkish delegation responded by proposing a “roadmap for reconstruction projects,” and emphasized how “Turkish companies can play an active role in all areas where Ukraine needs help,” including “rapid rebuilding of infrastructure destroyed by the war.”
“As of 2024, our trade volume with Ukraine has reached $6.2 billion. Including investments made by third countries, our total investments in Ukraine have amounted to $3.5 billion,” Bolat reported.
Zelensky said after the task force meeting that Turkey could become an important partner in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security, presumably on the theory that making heavy investments in Ukraine would make Turkey – a NATO member with a larger military than any European country – unwilling to tolerate further Russian attacks.
Read the full article here