Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat is leading a business delegation to the South East Asian country.
By Pesach Benson, TPS
Visiting Singapore, Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry, Nir Barkat met with Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat to discuss bilateral relations and trade on Monday.
Barkat is leading a business delegation to the South East Asian country.
Barkat invited Heng to pay a reciprocal visit, and Heng told Barkat he intends to visit Israel by the end of 2023. Heng also serves as Coordinating Minister for Strategic Economic Affairs.
The main topics of discussion were technological innovation, support for entrepreneurship, research and development, medical research, solutions in the field of water, tourism and education.
Following their meeting, the two held a joint meeting with the Israeli businessmen in Barkat’s delegation.
“Israeli innovation is highly valued in Singapore,” Barkat said. “I welcome the opportunity to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Swee Kat Heng, and discuss with him ways to expand the business potential for Israeli companies in Singapore and for Singaporean companies in Israel, with the aim of continuing to develop the economic relations between the countries.”
As of 2022, the trade trend between Israel and Singapore was on the rise, and in 2022, the volume of trade was about $ 3.8 billion, an increase of about 67% percent compared to 2021. The total of Israeli exports was $1.16 billion. Israeli machinery accounted for 51% of the exports, followed by optical, medical and other equipment (17%), and transportation products (16%).
Total Israeli imports were about $2.1 billion mostly transportation products (60%) and machinery.
Between Israel and Singapore there is also a branch of trade in services, with Israel importing from Singapore about $150 million, which included sales and marketing (37%) and computing services (27%), while Israel exported services amounting to $580 million, which included, among other things, research and development (32%), and computing (19%).
Israel and Singapore established diplomatic relations in 1969.
The visit follows Barkat’s visit to Vietnam, which signed a free trade agreement with Israel in July. On Wednesday, Barkat and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Hong Dien, signed an agreement for direct flights between Hanoi and Tel Aviv, which are due to begin in October.
Einat Halevy Levin, president of the Israel-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, told the Tazpit Press Service in July that a free trade agreement would also position Vietnam as a hub for Israeli business opportunities in Southeast Asia.