Ukraine, Turkey’s top diplomats to meet in Lviv in October

The statement came as Kuleba was speaking at an online briefing on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"In early October, my friend and colleague, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, will arrive in Ukraine. I’d like to expand the geography of Ukrainian diplomacy, so I will receive Mevlüt not in Kyiv, as is traditionally the case, but in Lviv. Lviv, get ready to meet Ukrainian and Turkish diplomacy!” the minister said.

He noted that in Lviv, the two top diplomats would hold a meeting of the joint strategic planning team to prepare for the 10th meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council, chaired by the two presidents, set to be held in Kyiv early next year.

Kuleba noted that choosing Lviv as a site of the upcoming meeting with his Turkish counterpart was no accident as the city is Ukraine’s major tourist, industrial, transport, cultural, and IT hub.

"In particular, we’re willing to present these opportunities in Lviv to Turkish investors," the minister said.

Kuleba added that during the meeting with Cavusoglu, he would also discuss the security situation in the Black Sea region before holding a meeting in the Quadriga format in Ankara by the end of 2021.

"Ukraine and Turkey are countries whose union in the Black Sea is the key to ensuring balance in the regional security situation and the smooth functioning of trade routes. The same sentiments, I assure you, prevail in Ankara," the foreign minister concluded.

The Quadriga diplomatic format was established as a platform for political and security consultations to implement the agreements reached between the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey in Istanbul on October 16, 2020.

Meetings in the "two foreign ministers + two defense ministers" format are expected to take place annually, according to the tentative plan.

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