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Turkey, Ukraine agree to abolish visa requirements
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday that the two countries annulled visa requirements for nations of both countries and that the nations are determined to advance their economic transactions.
Ukraine’s president was in Turkey on Thursday for a one-day visit to discuss the possibilities of improving bilateral cooperation between the two countries at a strategic level.
Erdoğan was speaking after the two leaders had bilateral talks and attended Turkey-Ukraine High Level Strategic Cooperation meeting on Thursday, which Erdoğan hailed as an important institutional mechanism to improve bilateral relations with new projects.
He added that Turkey and Ukraine agreed enhancing cooperation in transportation, energy and defense and that ties between the two countries will be further advanced thanks to intense and sustained political dialogue between the two countries.
Turkish prime minister also underlined that Turkey and Ukraine agreed on free trade deal, which he said is a “very very important step.” Erdoğan said Turkey and Ukraine plan to reach $20 billion in trade volume by 2015 and $40 billion by 2020.
Yanukovych arrived in Ankara early in the morning on Thursday and met first with President Abdullah Gül at the Çankaya presidential palace, following which he headed to the Prime Ministry, where an official welcoming ceremony was held for him. Erdoğan had a meeting with the Ukrainian president in his office at the Prime Ministry.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which paved the way for an independent Ukrainian state, Turkey and Ukraine have been improving cooperation in the economic sphere and developing joint measures concerning security in the Black Sea and other areas. Ukraine welcomes Turkey’s support for European integration, which remains a firm priority for the Black Sea country, Yanukovych said during a visit by Erdoğan to Ukraine earlier this year.
Amid widening political rifts in domestic affairs, Ukraine fears its EU vision will be lost because of the deficiencies in its political and economic system.
In May 2010, during a visit to Kiev by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the two countries signed the 2010-2011 Action Plan, aimed at developing bilateral relations, and initialed the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council Joint Declaration. In the recent past, Turkey, seeking an active role in its region, established high-level strategic cooperation councils with neighboring Iraq, Greece, Russia and Syria, involving joint cabinet meetings between Turkey and each of these countries. It is preparing to establish a similar mechanism with Bulgaria as well.
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