A historical meeting between two international Jewish leaders — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — took place in Kyiv’s Mariyinsky Palace on Aug.19.
The two leaders talked about security, high-tech cooperation, the coming ratification and expansion of a free trade agreement and the problems that Ukrainians have in being allowed to visit Israel.
Netanyahu, who served as Israel’s prime minister in total for 13 years, last visited Ukraine in 1999. He said Ukraine has changed a lot and he expects better times ahead.
“I saw that since your election, the country started to develop almost twice faster. And I think this is not just a coincidence,” Netanyahu told Zelensky.
Russia, which has seized 7 percent of Ukraine’s territory and is waging a six-year war that has killed 13,000 people, came up in the discussion — but only in passing.
Zelensky and Netanyahu discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine. Zelensky wants to learn from Israel how to better defend its territory.
“We as a state have to learn a lot from Israel, especially in security and defense questions, and we will definitely do it,” he said.
Israel is emerging as a key trading partner for Ukraine. Ratification of a free trade agreement is expected in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, after the Sept. 17 election. The agreement, it was announced on Aug. 19, will include the service sector and not only trade in goods. Reader more about the bilateral agreement here.
If the agreement will be ratified in Israel’s parliament, Zelensky said it will boost turnover between the two nations. Trade has hit the $1 billion mark annually already.
In addition, Netanyahu expects that Kyiv and Jerusalem will open high-tech development centers. “This will help a very fast development,” he said. “We will share our technologies and involve Ukrainians in our high-tech industry.”
Zelensky invited Israel companies to Ukraine to invest into health and education projects, energy efficiency and the information technology center. He also encouraged investment in roads and other infrastructure.
Zelensky also said that progress has been made in the high rate of refusal for Ukrainian citizens trying to enter Israel.
“Citizens of both states should take advantage of a visa-free regime, and thousands of Ukrainian citizens should not be detained at the border,” he said.
Signed documents
During the meeting, three bilateral documents were signed by Israel’s Ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lion and Ukrainian officials.
The first document was an agreement on promoting the study of Hebrew in Ukraine and the study of the Ukrainian language in Israel.
An agreement between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and The Israeli Ministry of Education was signed by Lion and Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Hennadii Nadolenko.
A memorandum of cooperation in the agrarian sector was signed with Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Olga Trofimtseva.
And the third one was a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine and Israeli Patent Office signed by Lion and Oleksii Perevezentsev, state secretary of the economic development and trade ministry of Ukraine.
