OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2011. Ukraine and Turkey have agreed to start free trade area negotiations soon, President Viktor Yanukovych said at his joint press conference with Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Undoubtedly, starting negotiations on a free trade area is a very topical issue," said Viktor Yanukovych.

The sides stressed the importance of deepening bilateral cooperation to remove barriers to the movement of goods and capital. In addition, they emphasized the importance of increasing trade turnover between Ukraine and Turkey. In this regard, Viktor Yanukovych expressed certainty that increased trade turnover would allow Ukraine and Turkey to realize the significant cooperation potential they have in the coming years. "We have a much broader view of our cooperation and understand that we need take joint steps and work out a common position to work with other countries," said the President.

In turn, the Prime Minister of Turkey expressed his certainty that the decisions taken today would promote the development of bilateral trade in the nearest future. "We believe it possible to increase bilateral trade to 20 billion by the end of 2015 and to 40 billion by 2020," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.