Israel expects the introduction of a visa-free regime with Ukraine in September this year, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov has said.
"According to my expectations, we’ll manage to cancel visas in five or six months, and I think that a visa-free regime with Ukraine will be introduced in September this year," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Misezhnikov said that Ukraine and Israel currently had an agreement on increasing the number of air carriers from two to three from each country.
"Everything will become available for our citizens," he said.
He also said that around 500,000 Ukrainians lived in Israel and that they would soon be able to visit their families and friends in Ukraine.
The minister said that 70,000 Ukrainians had visited Israel last year, whereas 40,000 Israeli citizens had travelled to Ukraine in 2009. He expressed hope that these figures would triple following the introduction of the visa-free regime.
