Last week was full of important events for Ukraine and Israel: visits at the highest level, Babi Yar, the tragic death of Shimon Peres, unplanned visit of Poroshenko to Israel.

In this whirlwind of events, endless debates on common historical heritage, something extremely important was lost - negotiations between the Ukrainian president and his Israeli counterpart Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, there was a very important agreement. In particular, during a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu it was agreed to strengthen trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Israel.

Also, they discussed extremely important issue - the signing of a free trade zone between Ukraine and Israel. Ukrainian president gave simple figures, since the establishment of visa-free regime between two countries, the number of Ukrainian and Israelis visiting each other has increased in 10 times. Of course, this greatly simplifies the movement to Ukraine and Israel and facilitates connections between business. Therefore, the signing of free trade will promote the development of bilateral relations and enhance economic cooperation even more.

The parties agreed to speed up negotiations on the conclusion of the Agreement, which is why this October will be a regular meeting of the Ukrainian-Israeli Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.

There were also talks on cooperation in the field of science and technology, tourism, cooperation in agriculture. In the near future, special attention will be paid to the implementation of Israel's experience in irrigation systems, which is required in the southern regions of Ukraine.

In addition, Ukraine and Israel are planning to further liberalize air travel between countries, to remove any possible obstacles to carriers.

President Poroshenko also appealed to Israeli investors with a proposal to take part in the privatization process in Ukraine, he has once again confirmed the strong interest of Israel in this regard.

I have repeatedly said that Israeli business and government always show interest in cooperation with Ukraine. But, they said, the process of bilateral economic relations should be simplified. That is why the question of the FTA between the two countries is important. Currently, trade turnover between Ukraine and Israel is about $ 1 billion a year, but the potential is much bigger. Each year, Israel is showing an increasing interest in Ukrainian projects in resource development as a necessary legislative changes.

Now it is imperative that Parliament ratified the agreement on temporary employment of Ukrainian workers in the labor market of Israel. Then Israel officially employed about 20 thousand Ukrainians on the same terms as the Israelis themselves.

Israel is ready to cooperate with Ukraine in all areas and it is important to efficiently use this confidence to ignore the comments of those who want to spoil relations between our countries.

Ukraine and Israel have a common past; we are connected by history itself. But you cannot live with past, you must look to the future, to develop and deepen relations at the official level, open markets, simplify procedures, enhance trade. This process is mutually beneficial for both countries.