"There is no significant business activity in the Negev. There is a lot of educational activity, but real business activity, which is the main thing, is missing" said Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd. (TASE: MAIN) CEO Avraham Bigger from the floor at the Herzliya Conference yesterday.
Bigger added, "The main industry in the Negev is agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals." He added that this industry accounted for 40% of manufacturing in the Negev, and that it employed 50,000 people at an average salary of NIS 17,000. "This should be protected before all kinds of very unpleasant things happen to it," he said.
Bigger told the audience, "This industry needs the right balance between a completely clean world and industry. Most chemicals industry can be carried out anywhere in the world. If we're not careful and apply very strict criteria, the interests of this activity in the Negev won't be kept."
Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Avishai Braverman (Labor) said, "If I were to bring here a Negev resident to hear what is being said, he'd laugh. Once again, we're talking about strategic plans for the Negev. Every week, we hold another conference and say the same things."
Braverman added that this was the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, and that it put the spotlight on the financial sector. The new capitalism should be based on manufacturing, and it was also necessary to cut red tape. He was scathing about Negev development. "The results are beneath contempt. I'm not proud of a GDP per capita of $24,000, when it could be $40,000."
Braverman said, "The guys who go to the army from the Negev have no work. They have nothing. The politicians are busy electioneering, and as with most electioneering, they've forgotten to perform."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 3, 2009
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