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KIEV, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine and Turkey are aiming to double their trade in agricultural commodities after launching a free trade area (FTA), visiting Turkish minister of food, agriculture and livestock Mehmet Danis said here on Monday.
"Our trade volumes could increase by two-fold in the near future," Danis said during the Ukrainian-Turkish agribusiness forum in Kiev.
The FTA will give an opportunity to Turkey, which supplies about 1,600 kinds of food items to 192 countries each year, to increase its exports to the Ukrainian market of more than 40 millions of consumers, Danis said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's deputy agriculture minister Olga Trofimtseva said that Ukraine is looking forward to further boost its trade with Turkey, which is already yielding good results.
"Turkey ranks the seventh-largest importer of Ukrainian agricultural goods and the third-largest exporter of such products to Ukraine after Germany and Poland," Trofimtseva said.
In 2015, bilateral trade turnover between Ukraine and Turkey amounted to about 1 billion U.S. dollars, with Ukrainian exports accounting for three-quarters of the total trade.
The two sides are set to complete the talks on the FTA next year. Enditem
