PRESS RELEASE : The agreement on a free trade area between Ukraine and Turkey is the result of three decades of cooperation and friendship between the two countries – Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 3 February 2022.

In the presence of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Turkey was signed in Kyiv.

The document was signed by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Minister of Trade of Turkey Mehmet Muş.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Ukraine takes place on a historic day, as Ukraine and Turkey established diplomatic relations exactly 30 years ago.

“Today a very significant event has become the culmination of three decades of cooperation and friendship – our countries have signed an agreement on a free trade area. I congratulate everyone on this important step. I am grateful to our teams for these negotiations. We have covered a long and difficult path to unveil new horizons of cooperation,” said the President of Ukraine.

According to the President, this document provides new opportunities for business, opens up new markets, new gains and profits, new jobs, investments, the growth of GDP of the two countries and the welfare of our people.

“Even before the agreement was signed, our mutual trade set a record and grew to USD 7 billion last year – by more than a half. This proves that our goal of USD 10 billion is highly realistic. And the Free Trade Agreement will help achieve it faster than expected,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

“During our talks, we considered the steps that can be taken to bring our trade turnover to USD 10 billion, which last year showed a 60% growth and reached USD 7.5 billion. I sincerely believe that the Free Trade Agreement that has just been signed will help us achieve this goal quickly,” said Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The Free Trade Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Turkey is designed to promote trade and economic cooperation between the two countries through the introduction of a free trade regime. It is expected that the document will promote trade intensification between the two countries, increase in exports due to domestic producers benefiting from the liberalization of the market of goods and services of the Republic of Turkey, emergence of opportunities for technology transfer and modernization of production in Ukraine, job creation, exchange of experience, etc.

The document provides for a gradual substantial liberalization of trade in goods during the transition period, starting from the date of entry into force of the Agreement, and a gradual liberalization of trade in services.

A Joint Committee is hereby established, the activities of which are aimed at ensuring the proper and effective implementation of the FTA.

The provisions of the Agreement on goods cover market access, national internal taxation and regulation, classification and valuation of goods, duties, fees and other charges, rules of agreement, cases of import and export restrictions, exchange of data on the use of benefits, export subsidies and equivalent measures, freedom of transport transit. The procedure is established for abolition of customs duties, application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, bilateral and global safeguards, anti-dumping and countervailing measures, regulation of intellectual property, etc.

In terms of services, the provisions of the Agreement cover market access, internal regulation of the most-favored-nation treatment application, mutual recognition of competencies of service providers, transparency and disclosure of confidential information, monopolies and exclusive service providers, business practices, payments and transfers, restrictions for the protection of balance of payments, schedule of specific obligations and their changes, emergency protective measures. The agreement also provides for measures to be taken by the parties to promote mutual commercial presence, in particular by simplifying procedures to facilitate activities, as well as encouraging mutual investment and removing barriers to the use and development of e-commerce; regulates competition and dispute settlement issues.

In order to further facilitate trade in goods, the Agreement provides for the simplification of trade procedures by the parties as far as possible in accordance with their obligations under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement; encouraging multilateral cooperation between the parties to strengthen their participation in the development and implementation of international rules of conduct and recommendations on trade facilitation.