Conservative Ministers this week welcomed flourishing UK-Israel trade ties and “extremely helpful” cooperation between the UK and Israel on COVID-19.
In a written parliamentary question question, Alexander Stafford MP asked the Minister what steps the Government is taking ” to strengthen the UK’s trade relationship with Israel in medical research and development during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands underlined in his response that UK-Israeli cooperation has been “extremely helpful” in fighting Covid-19. He stated: “UK and Israeli experts have been closely cooperating on medical research and development throughout the course of the COVID-19 response, including in relation to testing, clinical response, epidemiological management, and the development of vaccines and treatments. This cooperation has been extremely helpful to both sides and has resulted in a number of opportunities for further collaboration”.
In response to separate question by Matt Vickers MP on Israeli-British COVID-19 cooperation, Minister Graham Stuart said: “UK and Israeli experts have been cooperating on the COVID-19 response in such areas as testing, clinical response, epidemiological management and the development of vaccines and treatments. We will continue to assist in identifying and supporting further areas of cooperation between the private and public sectors of both countries”.
In response to a written parliamentary question by Mr Stafford, Trade Minister Ranil Jayawardena said: “The United Kingdom-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement provides an ambitious framework to continue to grow our future trading relationship, which totalled £5.1bn in 2019”.
He added that the Government “will be working with our Israeli counterparts to reinstate plans to host a bilateral trade and investment summit in the future. Through this engagement, we will seek to secure the United Kingdom’s position as Israel’s number one trade and investment partner in Europe. This includes promoting science, innovation and technology partnerships between both countries, as well as exploring further opportunities for British business in the financial services, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors”.
