Israel-China Trade Reaching New Heights

China’s a big buzzword everywhere with its endless market opportunities, but Israel is especially pushing on strong. With the recent takeovers by large Israeli companies over local companies in China (Amdocs, Mercury etc.) and the rising attention China’s been getting in the financial newspapers that I read I think it’s safe to say that Israel is definitely serious about China. This week’s reports about the Israeli Prime Minister’s Conference for Export and International Cooperation has reassured this with some statistics. Here are the details from the Chinese media (bold not in original text) :

China Daily - Trade:China No 1 in Israeli Asian trade

China-Israel trade volume topped 3 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, the highest among Israel’s trade volumes with Asian economies, a Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday.

Addressing a plenary session of the Prime Minister’s Conference for Export and International Cooperation attended by more than 1,000 business people from around the globe, Zhang Xiao’an, charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy to Israel, said that China-Israel economic cooperation has enjoyed a high growth rate since 1992.

"The average annual growth rate of bilateral trade in the past 14 years is 40 percent. Last year, bilateral trade volume reached 3 billion U.S. dollars," she said, noting that "we expect the volume to reach 5 billion dollars by 2008."

"Our trade volume ranks No.1 among Israel’s trade with Asian economies in 2005, and No.6 in the world," she said.

On business opportunities in China, Zhang said that Israel had set up more than 200 companies in China by the end of last year, while 800 Israeli companies are currently doing business in China as Chinese and Israeli economies are complementary in many areas, which promises great business opportunities.

Zhang also highlighted sectors of information technology, life science, agricultural technology, environmental protection as ones of great opportunity for Israeli enterprises, on the ground that China has a huge market and Israel has unique knowledge and innovative products.[...]

The two-day conference was held for business people from Israel and the rest of the world to seek cooperation opportunities, acquisitions and transactions. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other ministers attended the conference.

Here’s a bit from the Israeli perspective (Israel News Agency) :

One of the most interesting speakers was Her Excellency Zhang Xioaon , Charge D’Affaires at the China Embassy who gave an overview of the opportunities for business in the largest and fastest developing country," said Ross. "She spoke about how China - the largest country was learning from one of the smallest. It’s certainly no surprise that Israel commerce is at the forefront of the charge into Chinese opportunities, with over 800 Israel companies represented in China."