Wang Qishan will be highest-ranked China official to come to Jewish state in over a decade; Alibaba CEO Jack Ma to be keynote speaker at October 24-25 event
China’s vice president will participate in an “innovation” event in Israel this month, making him the highest-ranked Chinese official to visit the Jewish state in more than a decade, Hebrew-language reported Monday.
Wang Qishan will head a Chinese delegation to the fourth installation of the Israeli Innovation Summit, organized by the Prime Minister’s Office, on October 24-25. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend both days of the event.
Also attending the conference will be Jack Ma, the billionaire founder and CEO of retail giant Alibaba, who will be one of the keynote speakers at the conference, according to the reports.
It will be Ma’s second visit to Israel in six months, after a busy tour in May in which he explored business opportunities in the country, visited the offices of several local startups and met Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Technological collaboration has been facilitated by the joint China-Israel committee on innovation cooperation,an initiative set up in May 2014 with annual meetings held since 2015 to discuss areas where the two sides can work together .