The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor yesterday held an investors forum with the participation of Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer and the presidents of Japan’s largest investment houses, which manage more than $250 billion in assets.
The meeting was attended by the presidents of Japan’s top 12 investment houses and representatives of Japanese companies with investments in Israel. Among those attending were Goldman Sachs Japan, Nomura Securities, BNP and Nikko.
Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor foreign trade administration director of Asia Pacific division Amiram Halevy-Laher said that the investment houses and corporations attending the forum has invested $500 million in Israel in recent years, and that the event had drawn substantial interest from Japanese companies.
Addressing the forum, Fischer urged the Japanese executives to invest in Israel. According to Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor bilateral trade agreements division director Boaz Hirsch, the event represented yet a further indication of the warming of economic relations with Japan. This has been seen primarily in a new openness towards Israel, and an interest on the part of the Japanese, to form economic ties. Hirsch added that in view of the renewed momentum in the Japanese economy, and the volume of trade with Israel, which is low in proportion to the size of the Japanese economy, there was substantial as yet untapped potential for economic cooperation between the two countries.
As a consequence, the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor Foreign Trade Administration intends to increase the number of business delegations due to visit Japan this year, and it is also planning a similar event with Japanese companies, which will meet Israeli venture capital managers next month.
Trade with Japan totaled $2.3 billion in 2006. Exports to Japan, mostly electronic machines and instruments, optical devices, medical equipment, chemical products and diamonds, rose 2% over 2005 to $763 million. Imports from Japan rose 13% to $1.53 billion. Vehicle imports rose 45% and imports of electronic machinery and instruments rose 30%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 8, 2007
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