Through the Ukrainian prism

Ambassador Hennadii Nadolenko from the Ukraine grants an exclusive interview and offers his country’s views on controversial issues.

By MICHAEL FREUND
ukraine peres 521 (photo credit: courtesy)
ukraine peres 521
(photo credit: courtesy)
Headed by Ambassador Hennadii Nadolenko, the Ukrainian embassy must contend with the consular needs of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews who have migrated to Israel over the past two decades in addition to cultivating bilateral diplomatic ties. The history of Ukrainian-Jewish relations is complex, and is filled with many episodes of anti- Semitic bloodletting and persecution down through the centuries. But since Ukraine gained independence after the downfall of the Soviet Union, its relations with the Jewish state have grown steadily closer.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv. How are bilateral relations between Israel and Ukraine today? I think right now they are at the highest level ever. For the past 20 years we’ve developed our relations in every possible sphere – tourism, medicine, trade, economy, security and so on. This year, for example, trade between the two countries grew by 40 percent to about $1 billion.
Two years ago we signed an agreement between our countries on waiving visa requirements, which really gave a boost for economic and tourist relations, including medical tourism. In fact, tourism has increased almost two and a half times, and there are now about 200,000 Ukrainians visiting Israel each year and a similar number of Israelis who visit Ukraine.
During the past couple of years we had some very important high-level political visits. We had two visits of President [Shimon] Peres to Ukraine and our President [Viktor] Yanukovych visited Israel last year on a very important state visit. We have had meetings of our prime ministers. After our prime minister visited here last year, we began negotiations towards a free-trade agreement. There are already more than 36 agreements that have been signed between the two countries, particularly the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Israel for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.
Besides that, we have very close human relations too. Ukraine supported Israel within different international organizations a number of times. So, as I said at the beginning, our bilateral relations are at a very high level and I hope in the future they will develop even better.How are the free-trade negotiations progressing? Very well. We have already had a few rounds of negotiations between our expert teams. This December we will have another round of negotiations between the two teams and I expect that by the end of next year we will be able to achieve some kind of agreement. It is one of the most important agreements that we still have to sign.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman, and our Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko signed an agreement regarding social security payments so that our country will provide pensions to Ukrainians who have moved to Israel, and your government will pay to Israelis who have moved to Ukraine. This agreement was made possible due to a promise given by our president during his state visit to Headed by Ambassador Hennadii Nadolenko, the Ukrainian embassy must contend with the consular needs of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews who have migrated to Israel over the past two decades in addition to cultivating bilateral diplomatic ties. The history of Ukrainian-Jewish relations is complex, and is filled with many episodes of anti- Semitic bloodletting and persecution down through the centuries. But since Ukraine gained independence after the downfall of the Soviet Union, its relations with the Jewish state have grown steadily closer.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv. How are bilateral relations between Israel and Ukraine today? I think right now they are at the highest level ever. For the past 20 years we’ve developed our relations in every possible sphere – tourism, medicine, trade, economy, security and so on. This year, for example, trade between the two countries grew by 40 percent to about $1 billion.
Two years ago we signed an agreement between our countries on waiving visa requirements, which really gave a boost for economic and tourist relations, including medical tourism. In fact, tourism has increased almost two and a half times, and there are now about 200,000 Ukrainians visiting Israel each year and a similar number of Israelis who visit Ukraine.
During the past couple of years we had some very important high-level political visits. We had two visits of President [Shimon] Peres to Ukraine and our President [Viktor] Yanukovych visited Israel last year on a very important state visit. We have had meetings of our prime ministers. After our prime minister visited here last year, we began negotiations towards a free-trade agreement. There are already more than 36 agreements that have been signed between the two countries, particularly the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Israel for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.
Besides that, we have very close human relations too. Ukraine supported Israel within different international organizations a number of times. So, as I said at the beginning, our bilateral relations are at a very high level and I hope in the future they will develop even better.
How are the free-trade negotiations progressing? Very well. We have already had a few rounds of negotiations between our expert teams. This December we will have another round of negotiations between the two teams and I expect that by the end of next year we will be able to achieve some kind of agreement. It is one of the most important agreements that we still have to sign.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Liberman, and our Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko signed an agreement regarding social security payments so that our country will provide pensions to Ukrainians who have moved to Israel, and your government will pay to Israelis who have moved to Ukraine. This agreement was made possible due to a promise given by our president during his state visit to