Zelensky expects broad participation of Turkish business in Ukraine's privatization process

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the current level of economic cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey is only the initial stage and expects the growth of Turkish investment and the participation of Turkish business in Ukraine's privatization processes.

The head of state stated this in an interview with Turkey's Demirören news agency.

"The assessment of Turkish business can be described in one word: excellent! Companies from your country are engaged in the construction of roads and other infrastructure, they provide quality mobile communications. You can talk about small and medium-sized businesses for a long time - just look at the number of Turkish establishments in Ukraine's big cities. But even all this, I think, is only the initial stage of our cooperation. We can do much more together," Zelensky said.

He added that the first task is to expand joint work on projects in the field of infrastructure, banking, and shipbuilding. At the same time, Zelensky noted that "this does not exhaust our opportunities for cooperation."

"We expect the broad participation of Turkish business in the privatization process in Ukraine. The policy of our state is based on the idea of maximum assistance to investors. We will always be ready to help businesses in areas where they want to work," he said.

Trade between Ukraine and Turkey amounted to $2.27 billion in the first half of 2020, which is 1.7% more than in the same period last year. Ukraine is interested in increasing exports of finished products.

Zelensky is on a working visit to Turkey on Friday, October 16.

op