International Trade Secretary Rt. Hon. Dr Liam Fox MP and Conservative MPs celebrated “huge advantages” of the UK-Israel trade partnership in International Trade Questions in the House of Commons on Thursday.
Dr Fox said on his recent visit to Israel he and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to sponsor a UK-Israel government high-level trade and investment conference “that will enable us to show the world the best of what both countries have to offer in the sector”.
Michael Fabricant MP had asked the Secretary of State “what steps he is taking to strengthen UK trading relations with Israel in medical research and development” and “what will be the advantages of doing business with Israel for both our nations”.
The International Trade Secretary said: “Our dedicated team at the UK embassy in Tel Aviv actively promotes UK-Israel trade, and there is extensive collaboration on medical research between the UK and Israel. The UK-Israel Tech Hub, which is based at the embassy, helps to create tech and innovation partnerships across several sectors, including healthcare”.
Mr Fabricant drew attention to the advanced state of Israeli technology and gave the example of Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom’s use of technology to save lives, stating it “has an app that provides live streaming, medical history and the location of people who use it, and that sort of innovation could be of great benefit to the UK”.
CFI Vice-Chairman John Howell OBE MP asked the International Trade Secretary a question about the UK Israel Tech Hub: “The Secretary of State has already mentioned the UK Israel Tech Hub, which is the first of its kind and has already generated business of £85 million. How does he see that developing over the coming years?”
Dr Fox said that he sees the hub “going from strength to strength” and “as greater investment goes into both economies we will be able to scale up the innovation and creativity that is clearly shown in the tech sector”. He emphasised: “That will be of benefit not only to our two countries, but to the wider global economy”.
