OREANDA-NEWS. Ukraine and Israel agreed to expand the free trade agreement between the two countries and open centers for high-tech development. This was announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a briefing on Monday after talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. "We made two decisions: to immediately begin expanding the agreement on a free trade zone, which will be supplemented by a service sector", said the Israeli Prime Minister, who is in Ukraine on a two-day official visit.

Netanyahu noted that during the negotiations the parties agreed to open high-tech development centers in their capitals. “That is, we are expanding the free trade zone and opening innovation centers in two capitals. Thus, we will jointly invest here in Ukraine”, the prime minister added. Following the talks, the parties signed a number of joint documents, in particular, an agreement that will facilitate the study of Hebrew in Ukrainian educational institutions and the Ukrainian language in Israeli.

In addition, a cooperation program was signed in the field of education, culture, youth and sports for 2019-2022, as well as a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Israel on cooperation in agriculture. The parties also signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Economy and the Israeli Ministry of Justice. Ukraine and Israel signed an agreement on a free trade zone in early 2019. The Verkhovna Rada ratified the document on July 11.

On August 18, before flying to Kiev, Netanyahu announced that he intends to discuss with Zelensky including the creation of a free trade zone between the countries and a pension agreement. This is the first visit of the head of the Israeli government to Ukraine since 1999. At the end of July, Netanyahu announced that he could become a mediator between Ukraine and Russia to resolve the conflict in the Donbass.