Ukraine, Israel agree to introduce free trade area by July

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announces that Ukraine and Israel have agreed to introduce a free trade area in the first half of 2016

"We've agreed to considerably accelerate the conclusion of an agreement on free trade between and Israel – we've agreed it must happen in the first half of next year," he told reporters in Jerusalem on Tuesday. 

Poroshenko is on a state visit to Israel on December 22-23, 2015.

The agenda of the visit provides for a meeting with President of the State of Israel Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein and Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.

Poroshenko is to deliver a speech in Israel's Parliament.

A number of bilateral documents is to be signed during the visit.