(AP/Efrem Lukatsky)
Netanyahu Zelensky

“This is an important accomplishment in strengthening and promoting Jerusalem’s status in the world,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

By United With Israel Staff

Ukraine reiterated its plan to open a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem that will focus on innovation and investment, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. The plan was first announced in August during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“This is an important accomplishment in strengthening and promoting Jerusalem’s status in the world,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

The hi-tech office will have the status of a diplomatic mission and be part of the Ukraine’s embassy in Tel Aviv, said Katz. He praised the initiative as a sign of the “strong diplomatic ties” between the countries, adding that he has “instructed the management of the ministry to deal with immediately implementing the decision.”

Katz credited Netanyahu’s visit to Ukraine in August as the impetus for the building. “[T]he opening of the office is the result of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Kiev this summer and is a strong expression of the strong political relations between the two countries, as well as the commitment of both to continue to advance in all areas, with emphasis on economic cooperation, including the worlds of innovation and hi-tech,” he said.

During his summer visit with Zelenski, Netanyahu said that the opening of a Ukrainian office in Jerusalem would “strengthen Israel’s diplomatic and technological ties” with the Eastern European country.

Encouraging more countries to move their embassies to Israel’s capital following the US embassy move in 2017, Netanyahu said at the time, “I won’t lie to you and say that we don’t want Ukraine to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem in the future.”

In May, nearly one-fifth of Ukraine’s parliament members co-signed a draft resolution urging Zelensky to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move its embassy there.

It is not yet clear when the office will officially open.