Israel keen on increasing trade with China

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel has set a goal to consistently increase trade with China.

"This is one of the main horizons for ensuring the continued growth of the Israeli economy," Netanyahu said during a meeting in his Jerusalem office of the Ministerial Committee on Advancing Economic Ties with China. The goal of the committee is to coordinate overall government activity in order to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

The relations between China and Israel have considerably tightened over the past year, with a series of high-level meetings between the Israeli Prime Minister and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Netanyahu also reported an increase in the arrival of Chinese investors to Israel.

Israel's National Economic Council Chairman Eugene Kandel, who chairs the inter-ministerial committee on strengthening economic ties with China, presented a working plan for 2014. It includes meetings between joint working groups on agriculture, water, energy, high-tech and clean-tech, which will be held in both Israel and China.

According to the plan submitted by Kandel, the commercial ties should be expanded through government-sponsored long-term projects rather than by encouraging individual companies to step up exports.

He added that since last May, "it is possible to see that interest in cooperation with Israel has grown immeasurably throughout the Chinese economy and we have the opportunity to make a significant breakthrough in this direction."