Ukraine and Israel to extend free trade agreement

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - Israel and Ukraine agreed to extend a free trade agreement in the services sector on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

According to the website of Ukrainian presidency, Zelensky told reporters after the meeting that Israel remains one of Ukraine's key trading partners in the Middle East region and their bilateral trade volume exceeded $1 billion.

He said the given figure would increase significantly due to the signing of the free trade agreement.

He is also hopeful that the Israeli side would ratify the document in the near future.

"We have also agreed to immediately start working to extend the agreement to the sphere of services," Zelensky said.

Netanyahu said they will share technology and involve Ukrainians in Israel's high-tech industry as Israel will make joint investments in this field in Ukraine.

The two countries had signed the free trade agreement in January this year and it was ratified by the Ukrainian parliament last month.