The first meeting of a high-level strategic council between Ukraine and Turkey is to be held in November-December 2011 and chaired by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on July 13.
A meeting of the bilateral group on strategic planning chaired by the foreign ministers of the two countries took place on Wednesday as part of an official visit to Turkey by Ukrainian Foreign Minister and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Kostiantyn Hryschenko.
The main objective of the meeting between Hryschenko and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to prepare for the first meeting of the strategic council.
After the talks, the sides drafted the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the strategic council, agreed on the level of representation of the parties, and agreed to draw up bilateral documents be signed during the meeting. In particular, agreement was reached to sign an action plan on Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation in 2012-2013.
"We attach great importance to strategic partnership between Ukraine and Turkey. The holding of the first meeting of the high-level strategic council, chaired by the Ukrainian president and the Turkish prime minister, should be the main stage," Hryschenko said.
The parties discussed in detail the priorities the implementation of which will help make strategic partnership between Ukraine and Turkey concrete and pragmatic, in particular, through the implementation of joint large-scale projects in energy, transport, science, technology, as well as the aerospace and defense sectors.
Particular attention was paid to the holding of the eighth meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, interaction in the construction of an LNG terminal in Odesa, and the development of transport corridors on the North-South route.
Hryschenko and Davutoglu also praised the ongoing talks on the introduction of a visa-free regime of short-term travel by citizens of Ukraine and Turkey and confirmed their readiness soon to hold talks on a free trade agreement between the two countries.
They also agreed to strengthen cooperation between Kyiv and Ankara within international organizations, in particular, as part of Ukraine’s current presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers and the country’s future chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In addition, the sides discussed a wide range of issues of security and stability in the Black Sea region.
