Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Türkiye-Ukraine Round Table Meeting was hosted by TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu with the participation of Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko and Ukrainian Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval.

In his speech here, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the cooperation between Türkiye and Ukraine has been developing since Ukraine gained its independence.

Emphasizing that there are very good relations between the leaders of the two countries, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that as the business world, they support Ukraine’s territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty.

- “We hope that the FTA will be ratified in Ukraine in a short time”

Hisarcıklıoğlu reminded that in September 2022, in Lviv, with the participation of a wide range of companies from Türkiye and Ukraine, they held a business forum and made efforts to end the war and the Grain Corridor Agreement.

Stating that the business world has never left Ukraine, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they would like to continue to contribute and develop partnerships, especially humanitarian aid.

Pointing out that they will continue to provide the necessary support for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “A free trade agreement (FTA) was signed with Ukraine and the approval process was completed in Türkiye. We hope that it will be approved in Ukraine in a short time. When the agreement enters into force, we will have a more solid ground in trade relations. Then, we will be able to reach the 10 billion dollar trade volume target more easily.”

Stating that around 700 Turkish companies are operating in Ukraine, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that these companies have investments of 3.5 billion dollars in Ukraine.

- “We would like to contribute to the physical structure of Poland-Ukraine customs”

Hisarcıklıoğlu drew attention to Türkiye’s success in Ukraine, especially in the field of contracting, and underlined that Turkish contractors have signed more than 300 projects with a total value of 10 billion dollars in this country.

Explaining that the Turkish business world wants to contribute to the reconstruction process of Ukraine with concrete projects in addition to the contracting and consultancy sectors, Hisarcıklıoğlu made the following assessment:

“We have experience in modernization of land customs gates. We are implementing modernization projects that improve the service conditions and increase the service capacity of land border gates, which play an important role in Türkiye’s exports. Especially in Poland-Ukraine customs, the physical structure is unfortunately inadequate, and we would like to contribute in this regard. We would like to transfer our public-private partnership experience in construction projects such as highways, bridges and hospitals in Türkiye to Ukraine. We would also like to bring our licensed warehouse experience, which plays an important role in the process of storing agricultural products under healthy conditions and presenting them to the market, to Ukraine.”

- Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat

In his speech, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat stated that the bilateral trade volume between Türkiye and Ukraine was 6.2 billion dollars last year and said, “With the Free Trade Agreement, we believe that the mutual trade between Türkiye and Ukraine will reach a volume of 10 billion dollars in a very short time.”

Bolat said that intensive contacts with Ukraine will carry the cooperation further. Pointing out that the economic relations between the two countries are increasing day by day, Bolat said that Türkiye supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty on every platform and will continue to do so.

Referring to the importance of mutual investments between the two countries, Bolat said, “Türkiye has approximately 3.5 billion dollars of investments in Ukraine, and Ukraine has approximately 16 million dollars of investments in our country.”

Bolat stated that the contracting sector also forms the basis of the economic relations of both countries and emphasized that Turkish companies have successfully completed 12,450 projects worth 540 billion dollars worldwide.

- Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko stated that Ukraine needs investment and Turkish companies can play a role in the reconstruction and recovery processes of the country.

Sviridenko said that Türkiye stood by his country in times of need and provided support in many areas from humanitarian aid to the Grain Corridor.

Sviridenko said that despite the war, the economic partnership between the two countries remained strong and that grain and iron and steel exports were important for them.

- Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine

Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine, stated that Turkish and Ukrainian companies work together in his country, and Türkiye is the 4^th largest trade and agricultural product partner.

Stating that farmers in his country continue to produce steadily in the agricultural sector despite serving as soldiers, Koval said, “I would like to invite Turkish companies to cooperate, there is definitely a lot we can do. Especially in agriculture, especially in the processing of agricultural products, we can establish very good partnerships by taking advantage of your market information, access to finance, technologies and experience.”