China-Israel Business Forum was held in Jerusalem on March 2. Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Shalom Simhon attended the forum and delivered an address respectively.

Minister Simhon stated in his address that the visit of Minister Chen and his party provided a great opportunity for the two countries to deepening understanding and expand cooperation. China is one of the most important trading partners of Israel. And Israel is willing to take the good momentum to further promote bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Minister Chen said in his address that the hi-tech cooperation of the two countries had solid foundation and great potential. And the two sides should continue give play to respective advantages to promote the integration of Israeli high technologies and Chinese production capacity so as to make the hi-tech cooperation become the new growth force of China-Israel trade and economic cooperation.

Chen pointed out that in order to further boost the hi-tech cooperation, the two governments and enterprises of China and Israel should give priority to the three aspects as follows:

Firstly, increase the export of hi-tech products to China. Israel enjoys a promising market in China in terms of its hi-tech products. China will support Israeli “Comet Program” launching in China and hopes that Israeli relevant departments and enterprises could take active pragmatic measures to increase its export of hi-tech products to China in a flexible and open manner.

Secondly, expand the investment and cooperation in high technology. The two governments should earnestly fulfill the MOU on China-Israel Hi-tech Cooperation and actively push forward the cooperation in energy-saving and environmental protection, bio-medicine, information technology and modern agriculture. China welcomes Israeli Venture Capital Funds and hi-tech enterprises to invest in China, brings China-Israel Hi-tech Cooperation Promotion Center into full play, and encourages Chinese enterprises to invest in the field of Israeli high technology.

Thirdly, enhance the exchanges of talents and experiences in new technologies. The two sides could further enhance the exchanges of talents and experiences involving high technologies of the two countries by means of visits of Chinese and Israeli scholars, personnel training, seminars and setup of China- Israel R&D center.

Before the forum, Minister Chen and Minister Simhon signed the Minutes of the 5th Session of China-Israel Joint Committee of Trade and Economy and witnessed that the Trade Development Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute signed the Memorandum of Cooperation.

After the opening ceremony, Minister Chen and Minister Simhon jointly met with reporters.

The China-Israel Business Forum was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor of Israel. More than 100 entrepreneurs from China and Israel attended the forum. Given the great interest in expanding the mutual cooperation, enterprises of the two countries took heated and fruitful matching talks and signed cooperation agreements.