Message from Ambassadors

Why Israel and JapanAre a Good Pair
Ruth Kahanoff
17th Ambassador of Israel to Japan
Since graduating from Hebrew University with a major in International Relations
and East Asian Studies, Her Excellency is committed in strengthening thebond between East Asia and Israel. Appointed to leadership positions including
Head of the Asia and Pacific Department of the MFA, DCM in Beijing, andHead of Mission in Taipei.

Israel: Global Leader in Research andInnovation
Israel is a world-known innovation hub where more than
300 multinational companies such as Microsoft, Google,Apple, Facebook, Intel, HP, Siemens, GE, IBM, Toshiba,and Cisco have established R&D centers realizing thepotential of its highly educated, entrepreneurial, andmulticultural workforce.
In a population of around 8.06 million, with acomprehensive business ecosystem, more than 1,000 newstartups are founded per year in industries including New
Media & Internet, Cyber Security, Water Technology,AgriTech, Health & Life Sciences, FinTech, andAutomotive. In fact, the total number of new startups
recorded in 2015 was 1,400 of which 373 companies
raised around $3.58 billion and 69 companies were soldfor the total of $5.41 billion; Mobileye, a global leader invision technology for Advanced Driver Assistance
Systems and autonomous driving, was acquired by Intelfor $15.3 billion! There are increasingly more activities increating ecosystems gathering multinational companies,
academic institutions, local companies and governmentalinstitutions. For example, Cyberspark in Be’er Sheva
focusing on Cyber Security and a new project up North ofIsrael for Health & Life Sciences.

Israel, which is considered as the “startup nation” could
supply advanced technologies. In retrospect, as Israel
continuously innovates, Japan can perfect these
innovations and take it to the next level. The potential inthis highly valuable, cyclical relationship certainly has
not gone unnoticed by both governments, and there havebeen considerable efforts to develop deeper business ties
between the two countries.
In May, 2014, Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Japanannouncing together with Prime Minister Abe onestablishing “a new comprehensive partnership.”
In July, 2014, the R&D Collaboration Agreement wassigned by Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade andIndustry, Toshimitsu Motegi and Israel’s Economic
Minister, Naftali Bennett. This agreement paves the way
for reciprocal support in joint industrial R&D projects
between Israeli and Japanese companies and organizations.
In January, 2015 (8 years since Prime Minister Koizumi’svisit to Israel), Prime Minister Abe visited Israel

Strengthining Business Cooperation
between Isarel and Japan
We feel that the timing to develop a deeper business
relationship between Japan and Israel is prime due to theintensifying competition in globalization -Japanesecompanies are now looking at open innovation- and18

2017.5

Prime Minister Abe’s arrival in Israel (Jan 18th, 2015).
Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom (Israeli Embassy Website)accompanied by a delegation of top Japanese government
officials and industry executives, including NEC,Panasonic, and Mitsubishi Corp.
With the visits of both Prime Ministers, science andtechnology bilateral cooperation has also become more
infused since the Agreement on Cooperation in Scienceand Technology in 1994. Some notable events within theresearch sphere includes the active cooperation between
Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space andJapan Science and Technology Agency, funding a total of19 projects as of now, and the signing of the Memorandumof Cooperation with Research Council Secretariat of theMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishers of Japanand Israel Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentin November, 2016.
In May, 2016, a delegation from the Keizai Doyukai, theJapan Association of Corporate Executives visited Israel
to learn about how Israeli innovation developed andsucceeded.

Sigining of Investment Agreement
In February, 2017, Israeli Finance Minister Moshe
Kahlon and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishidasigned a bilateral investment treaty. This treaty establishes
the terms and conditions for private investment bynationals and companies of one state in the other,providing protections for each other’s foreign
investments, including the assurance of fair and equitable
treatment; protection from expropriation; the free transferof means; and setting up alternative dispute resolution
mechanisms.
These recent events show a significant shift in theJapanese perception on Israel to the “Silicon Valley ofthe Middle East.”
We see a dramatic increase of investment by Japanesefirms and in the number of Japanese companies local
subsidiaries in Israel. Some recent examples would be
the acquisition of Altair Semiconductor (a leading
provider of LTE chipsets, playing a pivotal role inrealizing the vision of IoT) by Sony, Dentsu bought
abaGada Internet (a digital performance marketing
agency establishing iProspect’s network in Israel),
Rakuten acquired Viber (an instant messaging and VoIP
app for various mobile operating systems), Yaskawa
Electric Corp. distributed Rewalk (a wearable robotic
exoskeleton that provides mobility and empowerment
for individuals with SCI), and Nissan Motor features
Mobileye’s collision avoidance system.

Economic and Trade Mission of theEmbassy of Israel
While the awareness of Israel’s technological capabilities
is growing in Japan, there are still uncertainties andobstacles that Japanese companies may face in developing
business ties with Israeli companies. To alleviate thesechallenges, the Economic and Trade Mission of theEmbassy of Israel, led by Noa Asher, functions as thebridge to develop and enhance trade relations between
Israel and Japan as well as supporting various commercial
transactions and economic cooperation. Through theEconomic Mission, Japanese companies can gain instantaccess to interesting Israeli companies that are catered totheir needs, business opportunities and learn and join
upcoming events (conferences, seminars, and exhibitions).
It is our sincerest hope that more Japanese businessleaders will join us and be inspired by Israeli innovation.
イスラエル企業とのビジネスや、貿易、投資について、是非お問い合わせください。

イスラエル大使館
経済貿易ミッション
Phone: 03-3264-0398
Email: tokyo@israeltrade.gov.il
URL: http://www.israel-keizai.org/
Blog: http://itrade.gov.il/japan/

Minister Kahlon and Minister Kishida signing the investment
treaty.
2017.519