Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Thursday, 25 October 2018), at Expo Tel Aviv (Pavilion 2), along with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan attended the dedication of the Israeli Innovation Center at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. Also in attendance were Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, Economy and Industry Minister Eli Cohen, Chinese government ministers, Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma, senior businesspeople and members of the Peres family.

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"I remember the conversations that I had with Shimon. When he spoke about innovation and when he spoke about peace his eyes sparkled. He had a tremendous confidence in the youth of Israel and the genius of Israel. And I think it's important to understand that here's where we saw completely eye to eye.

This event is the grand opening of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. And the idea is that peace and innovation actually go together. Innovation is not merely an engine of progress, it is an engine of peace.

Now I'm not speaking theoretically. Quite a few of the neighboring countries that are reaching out to Israel and normalizing relations with Israel which is a step towards peace because of innovation. They want our innovation not merely for security reasons, they want it for civilian reasons. They want it for water, they want it for health, they want it for IT, they want it for solar energy, they want it for everything.

They look around the region, they around the world, as do other countries, and they see Israel as a hub of innovation that can offer a better, safer, richer life and a longer life for their peoples. And this is happening right here and right now in the Middle East. It's a boon to peace.

When I had these conversations with Shimon, of course we discussed it in greater detail, his mind soared always. He soared. He soared to new ideas, to new technologies, to new applications and the idea that he had was that if we could reach the broad segments, the broad masses of the peoples of the Middle East and they could see the promise that technology and innovation would give them for the future that ultimately progress would win out over medievalism.

I think there is a great deal of truth there. This is why I think this combination of peace and innovation goes hand in hand. And I'm sure you'll be hearing about these combinations in the coming weeks and months and years in ways that will make this a much more concrete materialization than just the words that I'm speaking here. You'll be able to judge that yourself.

The most important thing that I can say about Shimon is that he had a grand vision, a grand vision of the State of Israel. He says, 'If you don't have fantasies you don't do fantastic things.' This is true, but of course you need also the people who actually put out, make these fantasies become real. And in Israel, Israel is among the leading innovation nations in the world. Eric Schmidt with whom I met last night who came to this conference said that, he's quoted here as 'Israel is second only to Silicon Valley.' That's not what he told me. He said, 'Israel is before Silicon Valley in the main things that I'm interested in.' And he's doing very well here. Well we won't make that argument

But we know that countries that seek to seize the future have to develop the capacity for innovation. I was deeply impressed in my conversations with Vice President Wang Qishan about the thrust of innovation that is so powerful today. From President Xi Jinping to the Vice President down to the whole people of China, there is an understanding that even though China is enormous and powerful and has one of the greatest economies in the world, that in China as elsewhere the future belongs to those who innovate. The partnership that we have between China and Israel that was reflected in this joint committee that now meets annually, and just we spent a few days now doing exactly that, is meant to drive forward innovation and to benefit from the fruits of innovation in so many fields. We spoke about agriculture, we spoke about water, we spoke about areas that could literally change the lives of, I was going to say millions, but you know when you're dealing with a small country like China you should be talking about billions. 

By the way I also made a very modest request. I asked that, well I began by asking that China, you know there is Chinese tourism to Israel, so my modest request was first for 1% of China's population then I narrowed it down I said one-tenth of 1% will do too. Because that's what I think we can accommodate at this point but we'll grow.

We have great confidence in the future. The future of our relations with China and so many other countries. And in the future of our relations with countries in the Middle East. I hope and I believe that by mid-century we'll see a change, it could happen a lot before, a change where Shimon's vision of the fruits of progress that it would change one society after the other and this would lead to a vision of peace that many seem to think today is fantastic but it's really a reality that could come together.

We always thought that if we solved the Palestinian problem it would open up the doors to peace with the broader Arab world. And that's certainly true if you could do it. But it may mean that equally true and perhaps even truer is that if you open up to the Arab world and you normalize relations with them it will open the door for an eventual reconciliation and peace with the Palestinians. 

We should do both but I think you should not underestimate the openness and the thirst in the Arab world today for Israel. And the reason, the first reason before anything else, is that we're there in innovation.

Last night, Jack Ma and I saw spoke about some vision of the future. How you can actually get this technology of innovation to serve small businesses that will proliferate worldwide and you can give them access to worldwide markets. They don't need enormous scale. This is an exceptional vision that you have.

I suggested to the Vice President of China and the Chinese government, and of course to all entrepreneurs from China and elsewhere, that we partner in joint ventures on our agricultural research institute, the Volcani Institute, which I believe is the best in the world. We can feed the planet. We can feed the planet with new plants. We can feed the planet with new proteins. We don't have to destroy the environment in order to raise cows, which are the most inefficient way of producing protein ever invented. We can do it with fish, tiny fish in the ocean, in the sea. Israel has that technology.

We want to partner on technology. Not only on IT, not only on health, but on food and water. The things that people need. It's all here. It's a remarkable story, the story of Israel, its capacities. There are many explanations of how it came about. I think that the sources of our genius are in our culture. We had to open up our economy. Create a market-oriented economy to have that genius burst forth but it's here now.

And I think the one person with whom I shared so many nights, so many evenings talking about that and saw the sparkle in his eye is Shimon Peres. I just saw it again and I wish I could communicate to him, and in a way we are. To tell him that this dream of his is coming true. The fact is we're all here today telling him it's happening and more will happen."​