During his visit to Israel, Viktor Zubkov met with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Zubkov and Lieberman also chaired the eighth meeting of the Joint Russian-Israeli Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Viktor Zubkov’s closing remarks after the commission’s meeting:
These have been professional and, most importantly, productive talks on issues of bilateral economic cooperation. We discussed in detail possible ways of stimulating bilateral trade and cooperating on major economic and investment projects. We also mapped out a joint action plan in priority spheres of cooperation.
Our cooperation has shown quite good results. From January to September of this year, our bilateral trade grew by over 50% to nearly $2 billion. This positive dynamic shows that we may reach the 2008 record figure, $2.8 billion, by the end of the year.
However, there is still untapped potential for increasing the volume and expanding the scope of our cooperation, primarily in industrial research and innovation. Soon we will start financing cooperative projects in industrial R&D selected jointly by the Russian State Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RusNano) and its Israeli partners.
I am confident that the experience and the potential of Israeli nanotechnology experts can greatly contribute to the launch of the Russian high-tech projects at Skolkovo.
Energy is another key industry. Gazprom’s experience could be used to implement exploration and development projects at prospective offshore natural gas deposits near Israel.
We will continue to consider projects aimed at developing Israel’s gas supply network and possible cooperation in the internal distribution of Israel’s natural gas and its export to other countries.
At the same time, we have not abandoned the project proposed to supply Russian natural gas to Israel.
We think that agricultural cooperation is very important. Apart from carrying out joint investment projects, Russian farms are using modern Israeli agricultural technology. Given the positive dynamics in the production of certain types of agricultural products, Russia could become a reliable food supplier to Israel.
There are also high expectations for Russian-Israeli cooperation in space exploration. In 2011, we plan to launch a satellite communications system designed by Russians for an Israeli operator. We are currently in talks to build another communications satellite for Israel.
To implement these and other projects, we need to improve the framework for our treaties and agreements. We have agreed to accelerate the drafting of agreements on the encouragement and mutual protection of investment and on cooperation in space exploration.
These are only some of the issues we discussed over two days of working together. I am sure that the results can be used as a reference point in our efforts to promote trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Israel, and also as a solid foundation for implementing bilateral cooperation projects.
In conclusion, I would like to thank all of our Israeli colleagues and in particular, Mr Lieberman. The results of our work will help expand the agenda for President Dmitry Medvedev’s upcoming visit to Israel early next year.
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During the visit, Viktor Zubkov also attended the second Russian-Israeli Business Forum and visited the Volcani Centre, the leading agricultural research organisation at the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture.