On October 27 2020, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (CDTO) Dmytro Senik took part in the opening ceremony of the III Ukrainian-Israeli Innovation Summit, the main topic of which was the leveraging of innovative solutions to combat COVID-19.

"We must set ourselves an ambitious goal - to analyze the challenges and opportunities caused by the pandemic, and to find and leverage the latest technologies that would help overcome its negative consequences. Ukraine aspires to become Europe's technological hub," the Ukrainian diplomat said in his speech.

Dmytro Senik praised the cooperation between Ukraine and Israel in the field of new technologies, noting the high potential for the development of joint projects. "The Ukrainian-Israeli cooperation in the field of IT and innovation is of key priority", the Deputy Minister stressed.

He expressed confidence that joint research and development projects would play an increasingly larger role in economic cooperation between the two countries, and the entering into force of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries would also contribute to this goal.

Dmytro Senik also outlined the prospects of cooperation between Ukraine and Israel in the trade and economic sphere, noting that in 2019 the volume of trade between the two countries amounted to more than USD 1.1 billion.

Factsheet: 

∙ The Ukrainian-Israeli Innovation Summit takes place for the third consecutive year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time it is held in a hybrid offline / online format.

∙ The Summit is organized by the Global Israeli Initiative - a platform for cooperation between businesses, investors, innovation companies, government and education structures of Ukraine and Israel. The event is co-organized by the Embassies of Ukraine in Israel and Israel in Ukraine, Sigma Software Group (Ukraine) and JSC Capital (Israel).

∙ Ukrainian and Israeli officials who take part in the event: Mr. Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine; Mr. Maksym Stepanov, Minister of Health of Ukraine; Mr. Dmytro Senik, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (CDTO); H.E. Yevgen Korniychuk, Ambassador of Ukraine to the State of Israel; Mr. Yuli Edelstein, Minister of Health of the State of Israel; Mr. Zeev Elkin, Minister of Higher and Complementary Education, Minister of Water Resources of the State of Israel; H.E. Joel Lion, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ukraine.

∙ More than 600 participants from the innovation, energy, banking, industrial and IT sectors joined the Summit this year.

∙ The 2018 and 2019 summits contributed to establishment of contacts between Ukrainian technology companies and Israeli investors, opening of offices Israeli companies in Ukraine, and attracting clients from Israel for Ukrainian IT companies.