Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said that Kyiv is hosting the consultations this week on the establishment of a free trade area between Ukraine and Israel.

"I want to note that these days the Ukrainian and Israeli sides are holding another round of talks in Kyiv and I am confident that the signing of the joint agreement on the FTA will redouble our cooperation," the president said speaking at the Knesset in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

Poroshenko added that the agreement to speed up the formation of a free trade area was reached during his talks with the prime minister of Israel on Tuesday. "We are ready to intensify the cooperation with our Israeli partners, including in the area of trade. In recent years, we have managed to reach the mark of $1 billion, but we need more," the Ukrainian president said.