In Ukraine, the Minister of Environmental Protection of the State of Israel, the Minister of Ecology and Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Zeev Elkin stay for several days with an official visit. The correspondent of "Cursor" learned what the Minister is doing in Ukraine, what prospects await the Ukrainian-Israeli relations and what Binyamin Netanyahu will talk about with Vladimir Putin.
- Tell us, what is the main purpose of your visit to Ukraine?
- The main purpose of the visit is the holding of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic and Other Relations between Israel and Ukraine. I head it from the Israeli side, from the Ukrainian side it is headed by my colleague, Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin. As a rule, the commission meets once a year and makes a full assessment of the state of relations, primarily in the economic field, social, cultural, educational, humanitarian. All that is not military and external-technical, - all other areas fall within the competence of this intergovernmental commission. The meeting itself lasts two days, yesterday was a working day, working groups from different ministries worked, and today there will be a ministerial day, today the results will be summed up at a joint meeting under the leadership of two ministers - me and Klimkin and the protocol of the commission's meeting will be signed.
- Besides the meeting of the commission, what other important meetings did you have?
- I had a number of important meetings, a fairly rich program. First of all, today I met with Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groisman, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Stepan Kubiv, yesterday I had meetings with the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Education, the head of the presidential administration, the presidential adviser on external relations. Meetings with regional leaders were held, I was in Kharkov and met there with the head of the administration Yulia Svetlichnaya, with the mayor of the city Gennady Kernes. In Kiev - with the mayor of the city Vitali Klitschko and the mayor of Lviv Andrey Sadov. There were many meetings with parliamentarians, with the parliamentary association of friendship "Ukraine-Israel", where we discussed parliamentary ties between our countries. In addition, there were very interesting meetings for me with former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and former Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk. There was a whole series of television interviews, about 7. There was a very busy visit.
OLEG VISHNYAKOV, HONORARY CONSUL OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL IN THE WESTERN REGION OF UKRAINE (LEFT) AND ZEEV ELKIN, MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND JERUSALEM AND THE HERITAGE OF ISRAEL. PHOTO: "COURSOR"
- What were the main topics you discussed?
-In addition to the general development of bilateral relations, this is the state of the promotion of the Free Trade Area Agreement. I hope that we will complete this contract within this year, we will be able to sign it at the beginning of the next one. This will be a very serious impetus for the relations between our countries. The topic of ratification of the pension agreement between Israel and Ukraine was discussed very seriously, it was signed in 2014, and so far, unfortunately, Ukraine has not been ratified. Ratification of this agreement is expected by hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have come to Israel from Ukraine. I very much hope that according to the assurances that I received from my Ukrainian colleagues, we can expect that at the end of this year - the beginning of the next one the ratification process will continue in the Verkhovna Rada and I very much hope that it will end as soon as possible because it is enough A unique situation - the agreement was signed 3.5 years ago and has not yet been ratified.
- What priorities were highlighted in cooperation between Ukraine and Israel?
- The prospects of cooperation in such areas as agriculture, supply of agricultural products from Ukraine to Israel were discussed. For example, Ukraine is the largest wheat supplier to Israel. Also, the use of Israeli technologies for the intensification of Ukrainian agriculture was discussed, this could be a very promising direction. Discussed cooperation in the field of IT technologies, and a number of Israeli start-ups and companies or open branches in Ukraine, or create joint projects and this has become one of the most common options for cooperation. Tourism was discussed, which is actively developing every year. About 160 thousand people come to Israel from Ukraine every year, Ukraine is on the 6th-7th place in terms of the number of tourists to Israel, and on the other hand 150 thousand people come to Ukraine from Ukraine every year, this is also very much, considering that we The country is small. It's like former people from Ukraine who visit relatives, friends, and ordinary tourism, and religious tourism is very common, visiting the historical places of the Jewish religion.
- What foreign policy issues were raised at the meetings?
- In addition to bilateral relations, support and cooperation in the international arena, the situation in the Middle East, especially in Syria, were discussed. The Iranian problem and all the issues related to it were discussed.
- On August 23 in Sochi, Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with B
