Arizona Governor Doug Ducey is ready to wrap up his five-day go to to Israel this week to strengthen financial ties between the Jewish state and the state of Arizona.
Ducey is on his third journey to Israel since he took workplace in 2015. He was the primary Arizona governor to go to when he led an eight-day official commerce mission throughout his first 12 months as governor. Arizona was additionally the primary US state to open a commerce and funding mission in Israel in November 2019, an workplace he visited on his second journey to Israel a month later.
Accompanied by the heads of the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Trade, Ducey arrived in Israel on Sunday morning to satisfy with political and enterprise leaders.
Over the previous 4 days, Ducey has met with President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu, in addition to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum and US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides.
He’s additionally met with enterprise leaders and tech entrepreneurs, and toured a big desalination plant to spice up enterprise and commerce ties with Israel.
“We’ve gleaned some good concepts on border safety and water tech,” Ducey advised The Occasions of Israel on Tuesday. The Republican governor’s present mission to Israel is targeted on bilateral commerce, water, and border safety, his workplace has mentioned.
Ducey has labored over his seven years in workplace to spice up financial ties with Israel, which has an analogous arid local weather and water and safety points.
Spoke with Test Level Software program about Arizona’s cybersecurity management. From our cutting-edge corporations and high expertise, we’re one of the crucial cyber-prepared states within the U.S. @CheckPointSW pic.twitter.com/R8JFe3DOyZ
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) May 31, 2022
“With our shared industries, climates, populations and values, Arizona and Israel are robust, strategic companions,” Ducey wrote on Twitter following a gathering with Israeli enterprise leaders Wednesday.
Ducey has additionally praised Israel as a water “superpower.”
With about 60% of its land being desert, Israel has pushed to create applied sciences to make each drop of water rely. Right now most of its ingesting water comes from desalination amenities and it’s thought of a world leader in all facets of water expertise and administration.
The nation is house to about 180 startups that function within the fields of water and wastewater therapy, irrigation, water techniques, water community administration, desalination applied sciences, and water high quality detection, in line with the finder database maintained by Begin-Up Nation Central, which tracks the tech business.
Throughout his journey, Ducey and his delegation toured a water desalination plant in Kibbutz Palmachim by IDE Applied sciences, a water firm that additionally operates quite a few different such amenities in Israel.
Toured an in depth desalination plant in Israel. Improvements like these are a part of the answer to safe our water future. In January’s state of the state, we mentioned desalination made Israel the world’s superpower – and it’s clear to see right here. pic.twitter.com/RmXRD5CdDU
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) May 31, 2022
“Improvements like these are a part of the answer to safe our water future. In January’s state of the state, we mentioned desalination made Israel the world’s superpower – and it’s clear to see right here,” Ducey wrote on Twitter after this go to on Tuesday.
Ducey has touted Israel’s water desalination expertise as a solution to increase Arizona’s provides, that are endangered by long-term drought and local weather change. He desires the state Legislature to approve a $1 billion funding for reinforcing the state’s water provide this 12 months. Key to that plan is a desalination plant that would price greater than 5 occasions that quantity.
Ducey has not offered any particulars of plans for the plant, which might probably be situated in Mexico and draw water from the Gulf of California.
Ducey mentioned Israel and Arizona even have a “stable base for cooperation and alternatives” in fields like aerospace and agriculture expertise.
Ducey mentioned Arizona can also function US or world headquarters for Israeli corporations trying to arrange store in the USA, touting decrease taxes and fewer laws.
Israeli corporations have usually gone for places of work in California, which now boasts 32 Israeli-founded unicorns (non-public corporations valued at $1 billion or extra), in line with the most recent report by the USA–Israel Enterprise Alliance (USIBA), and New York, with 26 Israeli-founded unicorns.
A lot of Israeli corporations additionally run operations in Arizona, together with US-Israeli 3D printer producer Stratasys and IMNA Options, a digital well being startup that developed patient-management software program.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Israel’s Federation of the Israeli Chambers Of Commerce to strengthen the financial and commerce relationship, which Ducer said could be “nice for Arizona’s financial system.”
Bilateral commerce between Arizona and Israel stood at over $660 million in 2021, in line with the Arizona Commerce Authority.
Throughout his journey, Ducey additionally paid a Memorial Day go to to Israel’s 9/11 memorial in Jerusalem, visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and a few historic websites, and noticed a few of the newest excavations on the Metropolis of David.
