The first Foreign Trade Conference hosted by the Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy was held on Tuesday, 15 Teves at the Hilton Tel Aviv. The theme of the conference was “Mega Trends: Global Economic Trends and Business Opportunities for Israeli Exporters”.

The event program began with Minister of Economy MK Naftali Bennett who said, “The Foreign Trade Administration at the Israeli Ministry of Economy is an excellent tool for the private business sector, we are leading a significant plan of mobilizing resources eastward and have more economic attachés in China today. These attachés can help exporters resolve local regulatory issues and provide assistance to business development in every sense of the term.

“Recently there is a trend of complaining how bad everything is in this country. I want to say life is good in this country: We have a strong economy, with very good growth, export to Europe is on the rise with nearly 10% growth in the past year alone, our Hi-Tech industry is at a record year regarding the number of Israeli companies going public and the amount of investment in Israeli companies. 50% of Israeli exports are from the Hi-Tech industry! This is an amazing feat, unparalleled anywhere else in the world.”

Keynote speaker Bret Stephens, a senior editor at the Wall Street Journal added “The US dollar’s appreciation exceeds that of the yen, euro and British pound, and so importing to the US is cheaper. This is good news for Israeli exporters, who annually export goods worth $15 billion. It becomes more expensive still after arriving in the US, which means the dollar’s dominance becomes more attractive. This will help the real estate market in places like Manhattan, San Francisco and Miami. It can make acquisitions of foreign companies more attractive for US investors.”

Head of Foreign Trade Administration Ohad Cohen told the forum “Israel’s first foreign trade conference is a special event for us. Exports are the market’s engine of growth, the engine of the economy’s development. During the conference, we will reveal all the tools that the government and the private sector, with which we work in partnership, can use to help exporters gain a foothold in international markets. We will present valuable information on the different instruments at your disposal. Additionally, we are trying to increase the number of stable exporters. Give us goals and present to us your obstacles, we can help you manage your customer relations.”

The 40 economic attachés working at the Foreign Trade Administration posted in global trade centers presented exporters with various opportunities to increase their activity and penetrate new markets.

The keynote speaker and guest of honor at the conference is Mr. Bret Stephens, editor of the international edition of the Wall Street Journal. Stephens presented global and local trends and spoke of their influence for the economy of the US, the world in general, and Israel.

Senior officials in the government, the market and academics presented macro-economical analyses and discuss new opportunities for Israeli exporters in various sectors around the world.

The first session: An aging population in a developing world: This session dealt with business opportunities born out of the gradual aging of the world’s population, side by side with other demographic changes. This affects consumer products, financial services and of course medical services and medical equipment, and all these aspects create business opportunities for Israel.

The second session dealt with the growth of developing countries: The central segment of the world in constant growth since 2008. Hundreds of millions of people in Asia, Africa and South America move from the peasant class to the middle class and as a result a rapid process of urbanization is taking place. This creates tremendous business opportunities for Israeli exporters. These countries need to renew water and energy infrastructure, develop constantly growing cellular services, and produce new food products in markets slowly edging toward a western mode of consumption.

Head of Foreign Trade Administration Ohad Cohen noted: “The relative part of Israeli exports in total Israeli production is growing year by year and thus also its contribution to the economic growth. The shifts occurring in the world today – in developed and developing countries – create for exporters of different industries extraordinary and significant business opportunities, and as the people in charge of Israel’s foreign trade we intend to help and to create tools to realize these opportunities, constantly adjusting these tools to a changing world with changing needs.”

Other participants at the conference included Mr. Alex Maghen, EVP of strategy and business development at Warner Bros., on the best strategies for Israeli startups who want to work with major media companies, Mr. Reinhard Franzen, senior VP at Bayer HealthCare, Mr. Rene Awambeng, a senior manager at Ecobank, Africa’s largest bank, as well as many senior government officials including: Israeli Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett, Ministry of Economy Director General Amit Lang, Head of Foreign Trade Administration Ohad Cohen, as well as senior executives and CEOs from leading companies.

The Israeli Ministry of Economy’s economic attachés arrived in Israel ahead of the conference. These emissaries are posted in trade centers around the world to help exporters and Israeli business entities break into new markets and locate international investments. While in Israel, the attachés met with business people, entrepreneurs and exporters interested in entering foreign markets or identifying new export avenues.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)