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Ukraine has given a Hungarian consul 72 hours to leave country after accusing his consulate of illegally issuing passports to ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Ukraine accused the consul, who is based in the western town of Berehove near the Hungarian border, of "activities incompatible with the status of a consular officer".
The expulsion is the latest in a series of diplomatic rows between Ukraine and Hungary, which have led to Hungary promising to block Kiev's aspirations to join the European Union and NATO.
"We hope that the Hungarian side will refrain from any unfriendly steps towards Ukraine in the future, and that its officials will not violate Ukrainian legislation," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine expects early signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) with Turkey, Ukrainian economy minister said on Wednesday."This agreement will cover the bilateral economic ties for the next 30-50 years as it is a long-term program," said Stepan Kubiv, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister and minister of economic development and trade.Speaking at the opening ceremony of Turkey-Ukraine Business Forum organized by the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Kubiv said Ukrainian and Turkish businessmen established a platform with active participation of the chamber of commerce of both countries, which aims more quick and effective solution of the trade-related problems."We can perform value-added projects together with Turkey, and have partnership in other countries on areas such as infrastructure, machinery and renewable energy," he added.Gonca Isik Yilmaz Batur, the deputy minister of trade, said the amount of Turkish businessmen’s investment in Ukraine is around $3 billion, adding that the Turkish businessmen participated in Ukraine’s 159 "prestigious projects" worth $6 billion.Batur also noted that the private-public sector cooperation will bring a new dimension to the bilateral trade relations."We aim to increase the trade between Turkey and Ukraine to $10 billion by 2023," Batur said.Rasim Bekmezci, Head of the Turkey-Ukraine Business Council of DEIK, said that the free trade agreement is very important to increase the trade volume between the countries and prevent unfair competition.
Ukraine expects early signing of FTA with Turkey
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin had warned in a Facebook post on Wednesday that "the events around the distribution of Hungarian citizenship in Berehove, let's say, do not add joy. They only complicate the already not perfect relationship between the two countries."
Ukraine's move to oblige teachers to use only Ukrainian in secondary schools prompted Hungary's Foreign Minister last year to say bilateral relations were at their lowest point since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine has sought greater integration with Europe since the ouster of a Moscow-backed president by mass protests in 2014 and the subsequent outbreak of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency in eastern regions.