KYIV. Jan 20 (Interfax) – Israeli Ambassador to Kyiv Eliav Belotserkovsky is hopeful that Ukraine and Israel will sign a free trade area agreement before the end of 2016.
“I hope that we will be able to sign a free trade area agreement with Ukraine before the end of the year,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The two countries’ mutual trade stood at $800 million, a decline as compared to the previous period, he said. Israeli exports to Ukraine dropped, while Ukraine’s exports to the Israeli market grew 4% to some $600 million-$650 million.
At the end of 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, speaking after his talks with the Israeli leadership, announced the two countries’ plans to sign a free trade area agreement in the first half of 2016.
