Earlier in the day, Ariel met with Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Levin.
"Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich intends to also pay a visit to Israel in order to ensure that the agreements that have been signed during this visit come to fruition," Ariel said after the meeting.
Israel is interested in increasing the supply of agricultural products to Russia, with Israeli fruits due to occupy niches once filled by Turkish products in the Russian market, as restrictions have been in place on the importation of Turkish goods to the country since January 1.
According to the Russian Agriculture Ministry, the country is ready to increase its supply of beef, mutton and poultry meat to the Israeli market. In turn, the Israeli side has expressed interest in importing egg from Russia and exporting a range of food products to the Russian market.
Russia and Israel may soon sign an agreement on a free trade zone, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Israel said.
Earlier in the day, Ariel and Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Levin held a meeting in Moscow where they considered a number of issues that could give impetus to the further development of relations between the two countries. The Israeli minister also met with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
"Today we also had a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Dvorkovich, we are grateful for his time. During this meeting, we considered a number of issues for boosting relations in agriculture. It is also important that the issues of pensions were raised, and Dvorkovich expressed his hope that the issue would be resolved before the end of the year, as well as an agreement on a free trade area, which we hope will be signed in the near future," Ariel said.
Levin noted that the negotiations on the free trade zone between Russia and Israel were just beginning, but the sides were interested coming to an agreement on the issue "as soon as possible."
