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TEL AVIV: IE Singapore's first trade mission to Israel has been fruitful with potential for several deals to be struck.
The business delegation comprising some 12 Singapore companies held some 40 meetings with Israeli counterparts on day one of the four-day event.
Israel is home to many high technology companies, and there is hope that some of their innovations could be transferred to Singapore to test-bed new products.
In return, Israeli companies can also benefit from the tie-ups.
Mr Ted Tan, Deputy CEO of IE Singapore, said: "Singapore companies are very good in terms of efficiency and manufacturing, especially in the area of high mix, low volume where we can do a lot of products for the Israeli companies, where the volume may not be as high as you would expect in Chinese manufacturing companies. The other area is intellectual property."
IE Singapore said so far a non-disclosure agreement had already been signed between companies in high-precision engineering field.
There is also talk of forming a consortium to manufacture wireless home security systems.
Israeli firms said they were attracted to Singapore's educated workforce, among other factors.
Mr Amir Hayek, President of Electronics Line 3000 Ltd, said: "Manpower in Singapore is very highly educated, the law in Singapore is very solid, the cooperation between Israel and Singapore is standing on solid ground because of language, culture, law, and this is what is important for us as a technology company."
Currently, there are about 50 Israeli companies operating in Singapore, mainly in the Infocomms sector.
Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, who met business leaders at a networking event, said Israel had prospered despite the second Lebanon war last year.
This is in part due to a shift in the global economy in favour of intellectual labour.
Mr Yeo said: "Longer term, Asia will figure more and more in Israel foreign policy as the Asian region exerts its economic pull on the Israeli economy. As it turns eastwards they find greater interest in China, Vietnam, Southeast Asia and India, they will find Singapore more useful. So we are also positioning ourselves for that new phase in Israel's development."
Mr Yeo added that the Palestinian government is also interested in expanding business links with Singapore, and while it is still early days yet, he said IE Singapore would assist Palestinian businessmen who want to find opportunities in the Republic. - CNA/de
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