The delegations of Ukraine and Israel will hold the sixth round of negotiations on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries in Kyiv on July 26-27, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine on July 26.
“The purpose of the sixth round is to continue the detailed consideration of issues of access to agricultural and industrial goods markets, in particular, to determine the degree of reduction of customs tariffs,” Natalia Mykolska, deputy minister – Ukraine’s trade representative, wrote on her Facebook page on the eve of the talks.
She recalled that during the fifth round in Tel Aviv in March 2017, most of the issues regarding the access of goods to markets were agreed upon and certain sections of the Agreement on rules for determining the origin of goods were worked out.
As representatives of the Ukrainian government previously noted, the Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement with Israel should be the next after the FTA with Canada, signed in July 2016 and effective from August 1.
Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Israel Volodymyr Groysman and Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in Tel Aviv in mid-May this year expressed the hope for the completion of negotiations on the FTA until the end of 2017.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2017, exports from Ukraine to Israel grew by 48.4 percent – to $282 million, while imports from Israel decreased by 10.5 percent – to $84.8 million. In terms of goods turnover, Israel occupied 22nd place among all trade partners of Ukraine, while on balance of trade it took the 10th place.
