JERUSALEM – Israel and the United Kingdom have agreed to enhance their free trade agreement (FTA), according to a statement from Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry.

The new trade deal, which was reached at a meeting in Jerusalem between Israeli Economy Minister Orna Barbivai and UK Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan, will remove barriers in goods and services trade between the two countries, according to reports.  The FTA between Israel and the United Kingdom was signed in 2019 and went into effect in January 2021.

According to the statement, since the agreement is based on Israel's trade agreement with the European Union, which was signed in 1995, the two countries are interested in a more up-to-date and modern agreement.

Senior government officials, corporate representatives, chambers of commerce, and others attended the meeting, which also discussed the formation of shared platforms for businesses and the specifics of a planned Britain-Israel innovation summit this spring. The United Kingdom is Israel's third largest commercial partner, with a trade volume of $7.7 billion last year, after China and the United States.

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