Turkey, Moldova speed up talks for free trade and strategic partnership

ANKARA

DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Turkey and Moldova have agreed on accelerating contacts for forming a strategic partnership and a free trade agreement, President Abdullah Gül said yesterday, following a meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Nicolae Timofti.

“We agreed to finalize talks on a free trade agreement and arrangements on forming a strategic partnership,” Gül said yesterday at a joint press conference with Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti.

The trade volume between Moldova and Turkey currently stands at half a billion dollars, but Ankara aims to double this to $1 billion, Gül noted.

The two countries should therefore take steps to ease conditions for investments in both countries, Timofti said, stressing that a free trade agreement should be finalized as soon as possible to this end.

The Moldovan president expressed his “appreciation” for Turkey’s influence in the region and said he wished to further boost ties. “Turkey is a big financial power in the region and finance is the main element in our relations with it,” Timofti said in an interview with Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said he was sure that Moldova would become a member of the European Union before Turkey, speaking after a meeting with Timofti.
“Even I can bet on that,” Çiçek said.