The value of goods and services traded between Israel and Russia exceeded $5 billion in both 2018 and 2019, taking the figure to above pre-crisis levels, Israel’s Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin has said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“Our trade volume, at least, according to the Israeli system, both in 2018 and 2019 exceeded US$5 billion. And, if for many years we were just below the US$4 billion mark and could not return to the pre-crisis level of US$4 billion, in the last two years we not only got back to that level, but also exceeded it,” Elkin said addressing a recent meeting of the Russia-Israel Business Dialogue Forum, organized by the Israeli-Russian Business Council in Jerusalem.
Following the meeting, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, Azer Talybov said that the parties at the meeting had discussed the possibility of opening a green corridor to allow the two nations to “efficiently solve any issue related to goods crossing the border, which involves the necessary optimization and acceleration of procedures.”
Both men were present at the forum, along with governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, Chair of the Israeli-Russian Business Council Temur Ben-Yehuda, CEO of the Israeli-Russian Business Council Kathy Dan, Chair of Israel-Russia Chamber of Commerce Anna Moshe, and a number of representatives from prominent Israeli businesses including Watergen and Teva.
“We consider economic cooperation to be the most important aspect of Russian-Israeli relations,” said Chair of the Israeli-Russian Business Council, Temur Ben-Yehuda.
He added: “Making sure this cooperation continues to be strong at the highest level involving government agencies and the business community is key to a long-term mutually beneficial partnership between the two countries. Just recently, we on behalf of the Israeli-Russian Business Council signed an agreement with the city government of St. Petersburg, and today we are honored to welcome the leadership of Russia’s northern capital in Jerusalem.”
Israel’s exports have soared by over 70% over the last decade, with revenues heading toward $114 billion overall in 2019, the Foreign Trade Administration announced in December.
