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October 1, 2010
Kent, Van Loan and Israel
Canadian ministers stress shared objectives and partnership.
ANDY LEVY-AJZENKOPF CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan and Peter Kent, minister of state of foreign affairs (Americas), both filled their schedules with Israel-related tasks early last month.
On Aug. 31, Kent began a nine-day trip to Israel to “launch Canada-Israel discussions on the Americas,” he said in a statement. He added that Canada also wanted to look at “shared objectives in the region” on the issues of “security, democracy and prosperity.”
His working visit included talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Daniel Ayalon. He was scheduled to tour various sites in the country, including the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Yad Vashem.
Additionally, Kent had scheduled a visit to the West Bank, where he was to meet with Riyad al-Malki, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of foreign affairs, to discuss how to implement a five-year, $300 million “package of assistance” to the Palestinian Authority that is intended to focus “on support in the areas of security and justice.” Canada first announced this funding in December 2007 at the Paris Donors Conference.
Meanwhile, in Toronto on Sept. 2, Van Loan held a working luncheon for the Canada Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) to highlight ongoing trade agreements between the two countries and announce that he will travel to Israel.
Van Loan said he was proud of Canada’s 61-year political relationship with Israel. He noted that, since the 1996 signing of the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement, bilateral trade between the two countries has grown to $1.3 billion.
“But our success goes far beyond trading goods back and forth,” Van Loan said, noting that Canadian businesses such as Research in Motion, Air Canada and Super-Pharm have built a “strong commercial presence” in Israel over the years and that Israeli corporations such as Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Amdocs have similarly “made inroads” here.
Asked what Canada is looking for trade-wise from Israel in the future, Van Loan said the government is “betting” on the strength of the country’s science and technology sectors for continued return on investments.
“We’re also working on taking our science and technology partnership to a new level in the years ahead,” he said. “When it comes to collaboration between innovation and technology, Canada and Israel have led the way.”
Van Loan also noted that, earlier this year, prime ministers Stephen Harper and Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to “take yet another important step” in Canada-Israel trade by establishing a bilateral innovation conference. He said that project is “currently in development.”
Speaking about his upcoming trip to Israel, Van Loan said that it would have a “strong focus” on the science and technology sector.
The original version of this article can be found at cjnews.com.
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