Ukraine and Turkey are completing the work on the preparation of an agreement on the creation of a free trade area between the two countries.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said this during a conversation with journalists after the third meeting of the Ukrainian-Turkish High-Level Strategic Council as part of his official visit to Turkey, a Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"We are preparing for a fateful decision in the issue of trade and economic relations - the signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries, and we are completing this work," Yanukovych said.

The head of state also said that this process was being conducted simultaneously with the process of preparations for the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, which Ukraine plans to conclude in late November.

"Once we sign this agreement, we will work on an equal footing - Ukraine and Turkey - under conditions of association," he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in turn, said that the process of signing a free trade agreement would lead to a significant increase in bilateral trade, which may reach $20 billion by the end of 2015. The trade at the end of 2012 was $6.2 billion.

"The efforts aimed at signing a free trade agreement could lead to such a jump by the end of 2015," Erdogan said.



Ukrinform