ANKARA, Jun 24 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Türkiye and Britain are working to upgrade their free trade agreement, as a means to boost bilateral economic ties, Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said yesterday.
The two countries are “working to expand the scope of the free trade agreement. We have started work on the issue,” Cavusoglu told a joint press conference with his British counterpart, Liz Truss, in the capital Ankara, referring to a free trade agreement signed in Dec, 2020.
Britain was the third largest destination of Turkish exports in 2021, following Germany and the United States, he said, calling Britain “a strategic partner.”
For her part, the British foreign secretary said, the two countries, both NATO members, should have better relations, hailing Türkiye’s efforts to open a maritime corridor, to export grain from Ukraine.
Noting the urgency of the grain crisis, Truss said, the problem will have devastating consequences, if not solved within the next month.
Britain recently lifted all restrictions on arms exports to Türkiye, as the two governments deepened dialogue after the Ukrainian crisis.
Britain suspended defence exports to Türkiye, after the Turkish army launched a military operation in northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), in 2019.
Türkiye sees the YPG group as the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
British Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, also visited Türkiye yesterday, to promote cooperation in the defence industry, according to Cavusoglu.– NNN-ANADOLU
