KYIV. Sept 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The seventh round of talks between Ukraine and Israel on signing of the free trade agreement was held in Tel-Aviv. The sides reached preliminary agreements on the liberalization of the industrial goods markets, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine has reported on its website.
“We conducted an intensive round with Israel and worked on the most important issues linked to the liberalization of the goods markets and approved the relevant provisions of the draft agreement,” the ministry’s press service said, citing Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Ukraine’s Trade Representative Natalia Mykolska.
She said that according to the exports strategy Israel for Ukraine is the market to focus on.
The ministry said that now exports of Ukrainian goods to Israel shows confident growth: in seven months through July 2017 exports of goods from Ukraine to this country totaled $345.7 million, which is 25.6% more than a year ago.
Mykolska said that the future joining of Ukraine the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin (PEM Convention), and Israel is the contracting party of the convention, would allow Ukrainian goods to become a part of global chains of added value.
As reported, Ukraine could join the PEN Convention on January 1, 2018.
