Ukraine and Israel seek to boost goods flow in the coming five years to $2 billion a year, while last year the figure grew by 14.7% compared with 2016, reaching $772.5 million, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said. “I met with Israeli Minister of the Economy and Industry Eli Cohen and agreed to increase the trade flow to $ 2 billion in the next five years,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
According to him, the countries also intend to develop cooperation in the field of innovation and high technologies.
Kubiv also recalled that Ukraine and Israel intend to sign a free trade agreement by the end of this year.
Twelve companies from eleven countries have submitted bids for the construction of a waste recycling plant in Lviv, the press service of Lviv City Council said with reference to Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy. “These companies have the most extensive experience in the construction of waste recycling facilities in Europe and around the world. The commission will study each company’s background and the next stage is to select one of the companies,” the press service quoted Sadovy as saying.
According to the report, the examination of documents for the compliance with the qualification requirements will take 30 days after which a list of the companies admitted to the next stage of the tender will be made public.
The following companies submitted bids for the tender: Eggersmann Anlagenbau GmbH (Germany), Control Process S.A. (Poland), СМЕС (China Machinery Engineering Corporation, PRC); Ceres Group SAS (France), ECONOVA (JSC ECONOVA, Poland), HELECTOR S. A (Greece), M-U-T (Austria), JV EFACEC-TAHAL (Israel), Atzwanger AG (Italy), Axis-Waste Treatment Technologies (the Netherlands), RIKO, industrijski, gradbeni inženiring in leasing, d.o.o. (Slovenia), and 3B Hungaria (Hungary).
According to the tender requirements, the construction of the waste recycling plant with the capacity of 240,000 tonnes of garbage per year should take 24 months. After the launch, the winner of the tender will service the facility and train local specialists for a year.
On June 1, 2018, Lviv City Council and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement on the issue EUR 35 million for the construction of the waste recycling plant and the rehabilitation of the Hrybovychi solid household waste landfill.
AUSTRIA, CONSTRUCTION, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, ISRAEL, LVIV, POLAND, WASTE RECYCLING PLANT
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has agreed with Israeli leaders on the readiness of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Israel, the press service of the Ukrainian ministry has said. “During the meeting, the sides discussed and agreed upon many topics of mutual interest, particularly in the area of trade and investment, agriculture and water management, energy and communications, standardization and tourism. A Protocol of the 11th Meeting of the Commission was signed as a result of the negotiations,” a message reads.
It is noted that the 11th meeting of Joint Ukrainian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation took place in Jerusalem under the co-chairmanship of Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Minister for Environment, Minister for Jerusalem and Heritage of the State of Israel Zeev Elkin.
Klimkin also had a meeting with the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, where the subject of the creation of the Autocephalous Orthodox Ukrainian Church was discussed.
Ukraine and Israel will complete the preparation of a free trade agreement (FTA) in the coming weeks, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy has said during a meeting with Speaker of the Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein in Israel.
“Now the matter actually concerns weeks when the work on this agreement is technically completed and when both Ukraine and Israel are able to ratify this agreement. I am sure this will be a very important step in the economic relations between Ukraine and Israel. This is our near-term prospect,” Parubiy said.
According to the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, he and his Israeli counterpart agreed to make efforts for the parliaments of the two countries to ratify the document as soon as possible.
In addition, the speakers discussed cooperation of the two countries in the field of security and defensive weapons.
“This is one of the topics on which certain agreements were reached, which will be implemented after our meetings,” he said.
As reported, Parubiy is on an official visit to the State of Israel (Tel-Aviv) on May 29-31.
Ukraine and Israel have technically initiated an agreement on the free trade area (FTA), Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said. “This is a technical but important procedural issue that enables us to conduct legal reconciliation of the text of the agreement for further translation it into three languages and prepare the agreement for signing,” she wrote in the Facebook social network on Friday. Mykolska said that before signing the agreement, the parties have no legal obligations.
As reported, Ukraine and Israel completed talks on the signing of the FTA agreement. The agreement foresees the annulment of import duties for 80% of industrial goods from Ukraine to Israel and some agricultural products within quotas. There will be a gradual cancellation of import duties during the transitional periods – three, five and seven years. After these terms end, the duties will be leveled to nil. A certain category of goods falls under partial liberalization.
In turn, Ukraine opens 70% of the industrial goods market for Israeli producers and also abolishes duties on a number of agricultural products immediately after the FTA agreement enters into force, for some products – within three or five years. In particular, Ukraine will partially reduce tariffs for certain seasonal vegetables and fruits from Israel.
The agreement on free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and Israel foresees the annulment of import duties for 80% of industrial goods from Ukraine to Israel and some agricultural products from the moment when the document takes force, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said. “At the same time, import duties will be abolished within a range of quotas for a number of agricultural products, and there will be a gradual cancellation of import duties during the transitional periods – three, five and seven years. After these terms end, the duties will be leveled to nil,” she said at a press briefing after a government meeting on Wednesday.
According to Mykolska, a certain category of goods falls under partial liberalization. At the same time, jewelry is excluded from the list of goods to which the document applies.
“After the agreement comes into force, Ukrainian producers can export their goods to the Israeli market without taxes. Why is it so important? Because Israel is a fairly closed market with high import duty rates, particularly for agricultural products, for example, for some meat the bound import duty rate exceeds 280%,” she said.
In turn, Ukraine opens 70% of the industrial goods market for Israeli producers and also abolishes duties on a number of agricultural products immediately after the FTA agreement enters into force, for some products – within three or five years. In particular, Ukraine will partially reduce tariffs for certain seasonal vegetables and fruits from Israel, the trade representative said, responding to a question from Interfax-Ukraine.
“However, this list is not exhaustive. The FTA agreement is a long-term document,” First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv said. At the same time, he said that Ukraine in the near future will start negotiations about the FTA with a new country, but he did not specify which state it is.
