Stalled progress towards EU membership has shifted Turkey’s economic interest, and it is now looking for closer cooperation with Russia’s Customs Union, Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukayev said. So the time is ripe for negotiating a free trade zone agreement. First and foremost, Russia and Turkey are discussing cooperation in the service sector and investments. A working group has set about developing rules and regulations. “We have prepared a draft project for a free trade zone aimed for cooperation in the service sector and investments. We have started a feasibility study of the project. This timing would enable us to sign the agreement this year. The free trade zone agreement is to provide more possibilities of stepping up a sales volume between Russia and Turkey,” Ulyukayev stated. The expert group will present the first report in June. It will deal with a mechanism for using national currencies in trade. Total trade between Russia and Turkey equaled $32.7 billion in 2013, making Russia Turkey’s second-largest trade partner after the European Union. Turkey is Russia’s eighth biggest trade partner. Turkey’s participation in the Customs Union was brought up at the meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in December 2014. Later, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Ulyukayev discussed the plan with Turkey’s Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci at the G20 trade ministers meeting in Sydney, Australia. So the two countries are firmly on path to fruitful cooperation within the Customs Union. If Turkey joins, it would be the first member that is not an ex-Soviet state to enter the free trade zone.
