At the “Globes” sponsored 2006 Negev Conference in Beersheva today, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the government was determined to devote a major effort and allocate large budgets towards realizing the vision of Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. “The country’s future is in the Negev, and the future has to be built with actions, not words. If we - the government and people - do not act in accordance with this vision, it will remain only a vision. Turning the vision of the Negev into a reality could be a model for other countries, and I believe it will become a light unto nations.”
Olmert added, “The government has made development of the Negev a national priority. The NIS 17 billion plan for 2006-15 is a plan I initiated with other ministers, and as prime minister, I am determined to allocate all the budgets for its implementation. The goal is to turn the Negev into an area that will attract investors from Israel and the world through massive development, the establishment of high-tech enterprises and development centers, modern agriculture, and incoming tourism.
“Under Ben-Gurion’s vision and the government’s plan, in order to promote the Negev, it must offer biotechnology. One of the most important decisions in this respect is the decision to invest in the development of biotechnology at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. The amount totals $90 million, of which $30 million was allocated by the Chief Scientist in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.
"Credit is due to my friend Professor Avishay Braverman, who served for many years as president of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and whose efforts were instrumental in raising the rest of the money that enabled the establishment of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev here in Beersheva, as part of Ben Gurion University.
"I have no doubt that this will lead to the Negev becoming a pioneer in this field of human knowledge, which has almost unlimited economic potential. I have no doubt that, around this scientific-academic anchor, start-ups and industrial companies will grow up based on the original scientific knowledge that will be produced in biotechnology.
"Alongside Ben Gurion University, with huge government aid, there will arise a science and advanced technology park. The government will invest in setting up the infrastructures at the site, and we expect leading high-tech companies to come to the park.
“The defense establishment is also playing a central role in the plan to position the Negev as a center of science. Three key technology departments will establish military development centers in the Negev, in cooperation with dozens of start-ups that will come to the Negev, and will provide a fitting response to government plans for its development. The government is also determined to invest in education, in the Bedouin sector, and in transport and infrastructures in order to bring the Negev closer to the center of the country. This plan will be realized at a cost of billions of shekels, and the Negev will be brought closer to the center.
“There can be no real dealing with the Negev without affirmative action for the Bedouin, and I will harness all government ministries and agencies to this aim. Development of the Negev cannot happen without private investors, and in the coming years, I will focus every effort so that leading Israeli companies, which already plan to invest in the Negev, will bring foreign investors with them. In the past year, investors and multinational companies have made many inquiries about investing in Israel in general, and in the Negev in particular.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 4, 2006
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