Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen met last week with German Minister of Economy and Energy, Brigitte Zypries, to discuss ways to strengthen economic relations between the two countries.
Germany is Israel’s third most important trade partner and Israel is Germany’s second most important trade partner in the Middle East. In addition, there are a number of leading German companies that operate in Israel, including: Siemens, SAP and Deutsche Telekom. The scope of trade between the two countries reached $7 billion in 2016, with Israeli exports reaching $1.6 billion, a growth of 3% from 2015.
The two countries’ economy ministries run a joint program for cooperation in industrial R&D. Since its beginning, 24 joint projects in different industrial fields have been launched.
In order to continue strengthening bilateral economic and industrial cooperation, Ministers Cohen and Zypries agreed to hold a joint Innovation Day in 2018 that will focus on industry, especially advanced manufacturing, as well as cooperation on R&D between the two countries.
During the Innovation Day that was held in Israel in 2015, a business delegation of 100 German companies came to Israel and attended a gathering with hundreds of Israeli companies. The event led to business and technological cooperation between Israeli and German companies in a variety of industrial fields.
Minister Cohen said in a statement: “We see Germany as an important trade partner that has succeeded in maintaining its creative industry, and therefore cooperation between the two countries is extremely significant for helping Israel learn from the German model and increase the role of industry in our economy to 20%. I hope business cooperation between companies from both countries will lead to investments by German companies in Israel in the field of advanced manufacturing.”