MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th August, 2023) Turkey and the European Union have agreed on a roadmap to develop commercial and economic ties, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, adding that working groups from both sides will hold a meeting in Brussels in late September.
On July 10, on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden could join NATO after Turkey's accession to the EU. Later that day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Erdogan had agreed to send documents ratifying Sweden's NATO membership bid to the Turkish parliament "as soon as possible," and Stockholm promised to facilitate Ankara's path to the EU.
"We agreed on a common roadmap for the development of commercial and economic relations between (Turkey) and the EU in the new period," Bolat said on X, formerly known as Twitter, after a videoconference with European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis on Monday.
Brussels and Ankara agreed to convene the Trade Working Group to jointly resolve the problems associated with the functioning of the Customs Union and to discuss at technical level cooperation opportunities that will further boost trade, the Turkish Trade Ministry said. The sides also agreed to hold a meeting in Brussels at the end of September.
Turkey signed the Ankara Agreement, or the Agreement Creating an Association Between the Republic of Turkey and the European Economic Community (EEC, the predecessor of the EU), in 1963 and applied for full membership in 1987. The negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU began only in 2005 with only 16 chapters out of 35 necessary to complete the accession process being opened so far.
