Turkey to start free trade negotiations with Russia

Turkey and Russia agreed to sign an agreement to negotiate the elimination of trade barriers between two countries, Economy Minister of Turkey, Nihat Zeybekci said on Friday.

“On Monday at the High-Level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council Summit, we will sign an agreement of historical importance in my opinion, which initiates official free trade negotiations with both country’s leaders” Zeybekci said.

Zeybekci announced that the signing of the agreement on Dec. 1 would signal the start of official negotiations. These will include preferential and free trade agreements, a schedule for eliminating trade barriers, an agreement on bilateral trade, an accord for cooperation in banking and investment as well as for the use of domestic currencies in trade between two countries.

The aim is to increase trade volume between two countries $100 billion from the current $35 billion, Zeybekci noted ministers of both countries agreed to have their technical committees meet once in month to speed up the progress on challenging issues.

Source: aa.com.tr