Jewish Life Digital Edition October 2015 | Page 41

PHOTOGRAPH: BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM

the Muslim, and particularly the Arab,
bloc. The Arab world is in the midst of a
deep socio-political crisis that will probably
last for decades.” And Israeli exports to
India totalled $370 million in the first
quarter of 2015, double the exports in the
corresponding quarter last year.
Discussions on natural gas formed the
basis of recently held talks between PM
Netanyahu and Israel’s new friend, Cypriot
president Nicos Anastasiades, who visited
Jerusalem early in June, and whose
country was the first that Bibi visited after
his re-election in March this year.
According to media reports, the agenda
included development of the Aphrodite
offshore gas field, which lies mainly in the
island’s exclusive economic zone, a tiny
fraction of which extends into Israeli
water. The two countries signed a
utilisation agreement to avoid any dispute
over revenues from sale of the gas. There
was much negative feedback from Turkey
which does not recognise Nicosia’s
government, but despite this, the meeting
went ahead, and according to reports,
most successfully.
China is one of a number of primary
target markets in terms of developing trade
ties and boosting bilateral economic activity
that Israel has identified. In May 2015, a
delegation of Israeli political and business
heavyweights accompanied Netanyahu on a
visit there, with the aim of boosting Israel’s
annual trade with China from a bilateral
volume of US$8 billion in 2012 to US$10
billion over the next five years. This, it was
hoped, would be achieved through greater
co-operation in high technology sectors; the
joint construction of industrial parks and
technology transfer centres; and enhanced
agricultural cooperation.
With China so big and Israel so small,
what possible benefit could there be in it for
the Asian giant? According to the experts,
“The great sources of technology [in Israel]
– environmental [technologies], water
[management], agricultural technology,
security – all matter to the Chinese, and
Israel is very strong in all of these areas.”
China is looking for added value business,
like internet and software, which is where
Israeli innovation is important. China’s
agricultural technology in particular is
fairly rudimentary and, over the past few

MORE THAN 300 MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES
HAVE THEIR R&D FACILITIES (OFTEN THEIR LARGEST
ONES) FIRMLY ESTABLISHED IN ISRAEL.
months, Chinese dairy farm manager
trainees have spent time in Israel
completing courses on how to computerise
dairy farm and herd management systems.
This technology has now been introduced to
a growing number of Chinese farms, with
astonishing results.
Of course, there could be problems
accompanying such ties, such as the
possible hijacking of Israel’s intellectual
property by China, and disagreement over
Iran. As a permanent member of the UN
Security Council, China has vetoed UN
resolutions aimed at isolating Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad, a strategic ally
of Iran. But China’s leaders are, above all,
pragmatic, realising that endorsing a close
commercial relationship with Israel will
give their country “access to a range of
technologies that could play a significant
key role in boosting its productivity and
prosperity”.
In February this year, Israel and Jordan
signed a bilateral agreement to exchange
water and jointly funnel Red Sea brines to
the shrinking Dead Sea. The signatories
also committed to the formation of a Joint
Administration Body for the project,
representing equally relevant officials from
both countries. Both Israel and Jordan
view the agreement as ensuring a lasting
and solid relationship and true cooperation between them.
During his August visit to the Milan
Expo, Netanyahu said, “We’re very happy
that we can share Israeli techniques for
solving water problems here in Italy. We
have very strong bonds of friendship with
Italy. We are doing everything together in
commerce and trade, in technology, in
tourism, in science, in culture, and we
want to do even more. I look forward to
discussing all of these areas with prime
minister Renzi, who visited Israel, and
gave a remarkable speech in our
parliament, the Knesset. There’s a very
strong feeling of friendship and a desire to
further co-operate in all these areas, and
I’m going to discuss some of these ideas
with prime minister Renzi when we meet

two days from now in Florence.”
Israel trades with Qatar, whose
government wishes to strengthen its hitech sector by acquiring knowledge and
technology and by encouraging Israeli hitech companies to export jobs and
development projects to Qatar rather than
to India or Eastern Europe. Israel’s trade
with Turkey has more than doubled in the
past five years, and stands at $5.6 billion.
UK-Israeli trade is at an all-time high: more
firms listed in London in 2014 from Israel
than from anywhere in the world, other
than the UK itself, and nine Israeli
companies floated on the London Stock
Exchange. British companies help Israeli
innovations go global, and Israeli
innovation gives British companies a
global competitive edge. The IsraelAustralia commercial relationship has twoway trade worth $919 million (2013); and
Australian companies take great advantage
of Israel’s knowledge-based technologically
advanced economy, particularly in the
areas of biotechnology, ICT, education and
training. Israel trades with Germany; with
Ghana; with Nigeria; with Egypt; with
Kenya; with Japan; and even with the
Scandinavian countries, all of them
supporters of the BDS movement. But
business is business, profits are profits,
and finance ministers have, over the years,
been known to ignore major political
upheav