Istanbul: The Turkish and Ukrainian presidents on Saturday pledged to boost the strategic cooperation between their countries in a wide range of areas, with focus on trade and defence industry. Speaking at a joint press conference following talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Istanbul, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the two countries are determined to carry their strategic relations to a higher level, Xinhua reported.
Erdogan noted that he and Poroshenko agreed to map out the details of a treaty on free trade by the end of this year. “With this agreement, I believed that our trade volume would reach $10 billion,” said the Turkish leader. He also highlighted fruitful cooperation with Ukraine in the field of defence industry as companies from the two countries are increasingly expanding joint projects. (IANS)