On April 18th, Conference on B&R and New Pattern of Opening Up and Reform was solemnly held in Chengdu. Amir Lati, the Consul General of Consulate General of Israel in Chengdu, was invited to attend the forum and deliver a speech.
In his speech, the Consul General shared basic information about Israel and achievements Israel gained from ecological aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship with participants.
He mentioned that China has become Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third largest trading partner in the world. In 2006, the total amount of bilateral imports and exports between China and Israel has reached 11 billion and 350 million US dollars, an increase of more than 200 times than the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
With steadily advancing of One Belt and One Road, research and develop program co-hosted by China (Sichuan) and Israel also initiated. Projects with high quality in scientific technologies received attention and support from China, and investment from Chinese enterprises has a wide range with various modes.
In 2017, the number of Chinese citizens who went to Israel for traveling and business reached 114,000, and Israel saw a 43% increase compared with 2016. Israel believes that the One Belt and One Road will definitely bring more opportunities for the cooperation between China and Israel.
After the forum, Mr. Lati was interviewed by a reporter from Observation of Sichuan Newspaper.
Reporter: What the goals you want to achieve through this forum?
Mr. Lati: To seek more cooperation chances in one health, new energy and new agriculture as well as other fields which are advanced industries in Israel, also, it is a good way for enterprises in Sichuan to learn more about Israel. In fact, Consulate General of Israel in Chengdu is a young diplomatic institution located in Sichuan. We found that many Israeli enterprises are familiar with Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou through exchanges and cooperation in recent years, but they did know little about Chengdu. I discovered there is a huge potential in industrial research and development of agricultural technology.
Reporter: What are the cooperative projects that Israel is promoting in Sichuan? Could you give me a case?
Mr. Lati: I’d better cite two cases rather than one, in order to elucidate the question. One of the programs is the Research and development Cooperation Program of China (Sichuan)-Israel. Collection work of first round was initiated in February, and related key fields include agriculture, water treatment, new energy, environmental conservation, intelligent manufacturing, electronics information correspondence technology, biotechnology as well as material and nanotechnology, etc.
This program came from Cooperation Agreement on Scientific and Technologic Innovation between People's Government of Sichuan Province and The Ministry of economy of Israel signed by Sichuan and Israel in 2016. This move also made Sichuan become the first province in southwestern China which forged such agreement with Israel.
“At present, enterprises from Israel and Sichuan will make parings to carry out this program, and get financed.”
The second case is that more than a dozen of Israeli agricultural technology companies came to Chengdu to seek cooperation in March this year, which was also the largest Israeli agricultural delegation in which have ever been to Sichuan. "We originally expected 200 Sichuan enterprises to go, but it ended up with 500 people, which is beyond my expectation.”
Reporter: What primary work will be promoted in this year?
Mr. Lati: One is to continue to help enterprises from Israel and Sichuan to get paired. Last November, Kanghong Pharmacetical invested on Israel IOPtima company and completed the equity subscription and exclusive distribution rights in China. “We hope to push forward this kind of cooperation and help enterprises in both countries to improve influence of global markets.”
At the same time, we will continue advancing the program Chinese Young Leaders Delegations to Israel in Sichuan. Since the launch of the program, Sichuan has the largest number of people to Israel.
In addition, direct flight between Sichuan and Israel is expected to be opened soon. “This summer, Sichuan Airlines plans to launch direct flights from Chengdu to Tel Aviv.”