Ukraine and Turkey sign free trade zone agreement
Ukraine News | 3 February 2022
Ukraine and Turkey sign free trade zone agreement
The agreement was signed on Thursday, February 3, after a joint press conference by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the key position of the agreement is the establishment by Turkey of 0% duties on 10,337 commodity items, which is 95% of the total number of goods exported by Ukraine.
Besides, another 1,348 items will be subject to tariff quotas or reduced duties.
Thanks to the establishment of a 0% duty on the supply of grain by Turkey, Ukraine will receive improved conditions for access to the Turkish market for processed agricultural products.
The agreement also provides for the complete abolition of Turkish duties on industrial products.
To ensure the development of domestic metallurgy, Ukraine reserved the right to apply an export duty on the export of scrap metal, while Turkey opens the domestic market for Ukrainian metal, for 510 out of 840 metallurgical goods a zero duty is set.
For another 130 metallurgical goods, a partial reduction in duties was established.
Also, quotas of at least 411,000 tons are provided for 167 metallurgy products.
Besides, Ukraine maintains duties on used cars and second-hand goods and establishes three- and five-year transitional periods of duties on vehicles and light industry products.
Also, the goods produced from Turkish raw materials after the activation of the agreement will be considered Ukrainian and will be able to enter the markets of all European countries duty-free, according to the EUR1 certificate.
The Ministry of Economy notes that the agreement will have an overall positive effect on the Ukrainian economy, new jobs will be created in industries that will work for export, added value will be generated, and taxes will be paid.
According to preliminary forecasts, the agreement will annually give +2.2% to GDP and +2.6% to household income.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met on Thursday.
Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a draft agreement on a free trade zone with Turkey.
