PM Netanyahu in Shanghai 6-May-2013
Israeli Missions Around The World MFA Press Room 2013 PM Netanyahu in Shanghai 6-May-2013

PM Netanyahu in Shanghai

  •   Visits high-tech industrial park, meets with Israeli and Chinese businesspeople
  • 5/7/2013
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    I would like to utilize this visit in order to create partnerships in all areas. If we create a partnership between Israel's inventive capability and China's manufacturing capability, we will have a winning combination.
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    PM Netanyahu visits high-tech industrial park in Shanghai PM Netanyahu visits high-tech industrial park in Shanghai Copyright: GPO/Avi Ohayon
     
     
    (Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
     
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, met on Monday evening (6 May 2013), in Shanghai, with dozens of Israeli businesspeople who represent companies that operate in Shanghai in order to consider ways to increase bilateral trade. The Israeli company representatives expressed great appreciation for the Prime Minister's efforts to increase trade with China and noted the great importance of government support to doing business in China.
    Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "I represent you before the Chinese government. I want to hear from you what I need to tell them in order to help you. I know that the Chinese ascribe great importance to government backing for business and I intend to give you this backing. We must make the national effort to enter Chinese markets and to create partnerships. In addition to your private initiatives, we need to create a government track with the Chinese."
     
    PM Netanyahu meets with businessmen in Shanghai
    Copyright: GPO/Avi Ohayon
     
     In a meeting with Israeli and Chinese businesspeople held immediately afterwards, with the participation of the Director-General of the Shanghai Municipality Foreign Affairs Department, Prime Minister Netanyahu said:
    "I visited here in 1998. Shanghai was an impressive city then and it is even more impressive today. I visited the Shanghai Tower and I wrote in the guestbook: Thank you for giving us a bird's-eye-view of the future. This city represents the future of China and the entire world and I believe that Israel can be part of this future.
    But we do not forget the past. Jews who fled the Nazi horrors during the Holocaust found refuge in Shanghai and we will never forget it. Now, we would like to adopt the future, and the future belongs to countries that are capable of manufacturing intellectual property. Thus it is possible to add value to goods and services. Thus one ensures a high standard of living.
    The future belongs to those who lead in innovation and technology. Israel is not as big as China. We have eight million residents, approximately one-third the population of Shanghai. But we manufacture more intellectual property than any other country in the world in relation to its size. If we create a partnership between Israel's inventive capability and China's manufacturing capability, we will have a winning combination. Shanghai is right for this because the balance of trade between us is even, and Shanghai is the gateway to China.
    I would like to utilize this visit in order to create partnerships in all areas. I visited a technological park this morning and in every field that I saw there, there are at least 6-7 Israeli companies that could contribute. Therefore, I would like to thank you for the warm relationship in the past, for the cooperation in the present and for further cooperation in the future."
    Earlier, on arriving in Shanghai, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled from the airport to an exhibition at a high-tech industrial park, where he viewed a series of innovative technological developments – inter alia, in the fields of alternative energy, urban development, the environment, aviation and space, computer networks, medicine and entertainment technology – by leading companies active in China.
    Next to a wall on which were the logos of the companies operating in the high-tech park, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "We see here the logos of many of the world's leading companies. I hope that we will soon see on this wall the logos of many Israeli companies; this is the goal – to expand bilateral economic cooperation and significantly increase Israeli exports to China."
     
     

  • PM Netanyahu visits the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

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    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday (7 May 2013), began the second day of his trip to China at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in the city's Hongkou district.

    The Prime Minister and his wife toured the Ohel Moshe synagogue<http://www.shanghaijews.org.cn/english/article/?sid=14>, which was dedicated in 1927 and served the war refugees who fled the persecutions of the Holocaust.

    Prime Minister Netanyahu said that his visit was the closing of a cycle. He recalled his moving visit to the museum in 1998 and added that it was a monument to the good heart of the people of Shanghai towards the Jewish people. The Prime Minister noted that the latter would never forget what happened in Shanghai and commended the preservation work that has been done and which allows everyone to experience the importance and exceptional nature of what happened there.

    Netanyahu said that even as most of the world closed its doors to the Jews 70 years ago, Shanghai was among the few places that opened its gates. He added that while the fate of the Jewish people has changed significantly since then, when Jews could only plead to be rescued, today the Jewish people has a state and army of its own, and no longer needs to plead to be rescued. The Prime Minister said that we can defend ourselves. He asserted that we warmly welcome the friendship of the Chinese people, and pointed out that not only are we both ancient peoples that embrace the past and also aspire to grasp the future, we do so while remembering both the recent and distant past in which the Chinese people showed us their good hearts.

    In the synagogue guest book, Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote to the people of Shanghai and the Hongkou district that the Jewish People would never forget the refuge and the kindness that they afforded us during the Nazi period, and added his greetings from Jerusalem.

    Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the Hongkou party secretary and invited him to visit Jerusalem later this year and concluded with the words, "This year in the rebuilt Jerusalem."


  • PM Netanyahu meets with Mayor of Shanghai

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    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday, 7 May 2013 with Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong.

    PM Netanyahu meets with Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong
    Copyright: GPO

     

    At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he was pleased to be in Shanghai, to view its great successes and to gain a glimpse of its future. He noted that the Jewish People and the residents of Shanghai have a special relationship and added that the former would always be grateful for the refuge that was granted to Jews who fled the holocaust.
    Prime Minister Netanyahu said that China is not only one of the few countries untainted by anti-Semitism but has supported the Jews. He added that he believes that there is mutual appreciation between the Jewish and Chinese peoples, both of whom have ancient roots and have succeeded in harnessing their knowledge for future benefit. He commended Shanghai for embodying this partnership in the best way possible.
    Prime Minister Netanyahu pointed out that Israel and Shanghai have an even balance of trade and that Shanghai leads China in this respect. He concluded by saying that he looked forward to discussing with the Mayor how commercial, economic, cultural and educational cooperation could be further expanded.

    In order to further cooperation, it was agreed to establish joint research and development teams for Israeli and Chinese research agencies, and that the two governments would encourage cooperation between private companies, including in investments.

    National Economic Council Director Prof. Eugene Kandel will head the Israeli team which will focus on providing Israeli water technology to China. The Israeli technologies specialize in – inter alia – desalination, recycling, preventing water loss and treating wastes. An additional field is renewable energy, especially alternatives to oil for transportation.

    The teams will also focus on the management of the Israeli public health system.

    Following his meeting with Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he had come with one clear mission – to open the gateway to China for Israeli companies and added that this would help the Israeli economy to grow.

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