The co-chairs of the Joint Russian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, met in Moscow on Monday. Representatives of the two countries’ ministries, agencies and businesses also attended the meeting.
The participants discussed cooperation in energy, agriculture and tourism. Mr Dvorkovich said Russia is interested in expanding tourism projects with Israel and invited all Israelis to discover Russian tourist destinations, for example to visit Sochi during or after the Olympics. As for energy, Russia’s Gazprom, Zarubezhstroy, E4 Group and other companies are interested in cooperation projects. The Russian co-chairman said he hoped energy cooperation would grow after a memorandum is signed and mutually advantageous agreements are reached. We also expect investment in agriculture, he added: “Cooperation is growing in the greenhouse business and animal husbandry.”
Mr Dvorkovich said following the meeting that the “parties were close to signing agreements on pensions for Russian citizens living in Israel, who are WWII or Chernobyl veterans.” The agreement will be finalised in the next few weeks, he said.
The officials also discussed a possible free trade agreement between Israel and the Customs Union. “A research group will start working in the next few weeks to draft a free trade agreement,” he said.
The Israeli foreign minister said the free trade agreement would be one of the key cooperation projects in 2014. “I believe we should set ourselves the task of finishing this agreement, something that will issue a signal to both the public and the private sector,” he explained.
The meeting resulted in signing several documents: EXIAR, the Export Insurance Agency of Russia, and its Israeli counterpart, ASHR’A, signed the Agreement Governing Reciprocal Reinsurance Obligations; the state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) signed a memorandum on cooperation in nuclear tracers; the Russian Energy Ministry and the Energy and Water Resources Ministry of Israel signed a memorandum of understanding in energy; Chechnya-based developer Leader R and Israel’s LR Group Ltd signed a construction design, materials and building contract for an integrated dairy facility – a dairy farm and a fodder centre.
Mr Dvorkovich and Mr Lieberman also signed a Protocol of the Meeting of Co-Chairs of the Joint Russian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
