ANKARA: Turkey could sign a pact on free trade with Russia as soon as next year and will hopefully see a rise in economic figures, Turkish Trade and Customs Minister Bulent Tufenkci told Sputnik.
Turkish and Russian trade ministries are discussing the outlooks for using their national currencies in bilateral trade, which will “give an advantage to our countries, reenergize bilateral trade and create new trade opportunities,” Tufenkci added.
Russia banned imports of many agricultural products, including meat and flowers, from Turkey starting on January 1, 2016 in response to last year’s downing of the Russian plane.
The Turkish trade minister said that prior to sanctions Russia imported around 40 percent of Turkey’s fruits and vegetables. It was Turkey’s first largest buyer of tangerines, lemons and grapefruits, and the second largest market for oranges. As of now, Russia still keeps Turkish grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, onions, cauliflower, whole chickens and turkeys and their subproducts, among other food items.
