Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Turkey, Dmytro Kuleba and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, held the ninth meeting of the joint strategic planning group, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has reported.
“We have been discussing today the further development of military-technical cooperation, in particular, the production of Bayraktar drones in Ukraine. Turkey is also interested in the capabilities of the Ukrainian Antonov State Enterprise. Turkey is also interested in the capabilities of the Ukrainian Antonov enterprise. The effectiveness of our aircraft has been vividly proven in the elimination of fires in Turkey,” the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry quoted Kuleba as saying on Oct. 7.
The ministers discussed the state of implementation of the agreements reached at the highest political level and the prospects for further Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation in the spheres of politics and security, trade and investment, defense industry, energy, infrastructure, transport and aircraft construction.
In particular, Çavuşoğlu expressed gratitude to Ukraine for its help in overcoming forest fires in Turkey in summer 2021. “We will never forget this assistance, which was provided by friendly Ukraine in my native Antalya and the neighboring Muğla Province,” the Turkish Foreign Minister stressed.
The parties agreed to hold the tenth meeting of the high-level strategic council chaired by the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey in Kyiv in late January – early February 2022. The meeting will be timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the states.
The foreign ministers paid key attention to the security situation in the Black Sea region, in particular, preparations for holding political and security consultations in Ankara in 2021 at the level of the heads of the foreign policy and defense departments of Ukraine and Turkey in the Quadriga format. Kuleba and Çavuşoğlu also discussed strengthening cooperation between the naval forces in both bilateral and multilateral formats.
“We are united with Mevlüt that a balance of security and interests must be ensured in the Black Sea. The Black Sea should not be a space for aggressive actions of one of the countries. Ukraine and Turkey are closely cooperating to achieve this goal,” Kuleba stressed.
The parties discussed further practical interaction within the Crimea Platform, agreed to give priority attention and coordinate actions to ensure human rights in the temporarily occupied peninsula.
Kuleba added that the parties also discussed energy security issues, in particular in the context of gas supplies.
The ministers signed a plan of consultations between the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Foreign Ministry for 2022-2023, which provides for the exchange of experience in various areas of mutual interest.
