Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who visited Israel last week said that Ukraine plans to set up a free trade area with Israel.
The Ukrainian president said trade turnover between the two countries in 2014 amounted to US$1 billion. Ukraine is interested in Israel's assistance in carrying out reform and in expanding bilateral economic cooperation, he said.
The conclusion of a free trade area agreement should promote broader economic cooperation. Ukraine is especially interested in expanding cooperation in the high technology sector. The two countries have been discussing ways to step up bilateral trade and economic cooperation, particularly in the agrarian, transportation, construction, and other fields and investment cooperation between the two countries.
Based on the outcomes of the negotiations, Ukraine and Israel signed a number of bilateral documents, in particular, those concerning cooperation in the scientific-technical, educational, cultural, and infrastructure development fields.
The parties also agreed on holding another session of the Ukrainian-Israeli intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in the first half of 2016. The parties expressed hope for the soonest possible signature of a bilateral free trade agreement, which should significantly increase the trade-economic component of interaction between the two states.
