Israelis seek business tie-ups in agriculture, aquaculture

Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines Effie Ben Matityau accompanies the Israeli trade mission to Cebu held at the Parklane International Hotel.
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

The Israelis are considering being the country’s partner in agriculture and aquaculture technologies.

They are focusing on these  major sectors including  home and security, telecommunication and food exportation, said Doron Hemo, Israel  Embassy’s head of economic and trade mission to the Philippines.

Hemo yesterday led a trade mission to Cebu composed of representatives from Israeli companies and the Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Effie Ben Matityau,

They were in Cebu for   business-to-business meetings with members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representatives from the Department of Agriculture and some private companies like Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD).

They brought to Cebu the companies which offer technologies that Cebu needs,  said Gilad Pepal, director of  Water, Environment and Agro-Technology Department of the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.

“We thought Cebu needs desalination, dairy farms, post harvest solutions, irrigation and more. We hope this event will result in a fruitful partnership,” said Peled.

Ambassador Matityau said Israel is successful in developing technologies and innovations for agriculture and water.

“Israel is a complementary partner for the Philippines which can really benefit from our technology. Our relationship goes from way back in history when the Philippines decided to show to the world the rightful thing to do when they decided to offer shelter to some Jewish,” he said.

Israel is an enterprise of innovation and entrepreneurs born from scratch which is now one of the leading countries in innovation and technology.

He said that in Israel’s case, necessity is the mother of all innovations, which is the driving force of Israel.

According to Hemo, the Philippines and Israel have a balance of trade of  $200 million every year.

Israel gets mostly electronic products from the Philippines, ICT products and dried fruits.

“But we need to do more than that. It is time to move on to more practical relationships like sharing technologies and know-how that will help each other,” he said.

Peled invited everyone to join in the 19th International Agricultural Exhibition and Conference on April 28-30 next year.

Matityau also said they offer scholarships for 570,000 students from around the world to learn agricultural technology for 11 months in Israel.

“This is our way of helping improve agriculture production and water security in other countries like the Philippines,” said Matityau.