As one of the activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Israel, the 2022 China-Israel Innovation Cooperation Week opened on September 5 at the China-Israel (Changzhou) Innovation Park (CICP). Irit Ben-Abba Vitale, Israeli Ambassador to China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

She said that China and Israel have achieved fruitful cooperation in the past 30 years, and she hopes to strengthen cooperation in green energy, health care and agriculture in the future in an exclusive interview with Xinhua Daily.

'China-Israel cooperation enjoys strong momentum and fruitful results'

Xinhua Daily: How would you comment on the cooperation between China and Israel since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago?

Irit Ben-Abba Vitale: We are quite satisfied with what has been achieved in 30 years. As if there was a very strong stream of water that flew in the river of the relations between China and Israel, the cooperation enjoys strong momentum, laying a solid foundation for the bilateral relations. Israel values greatly its relations with the People's Republic of China. China is Israel's second largest trading partner. Israel is an important investment destination for China. Meanwhile, the two countries have also carried out many productive cultural and academic exchanges.

At the fifth meeting of the China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation Cooperation (JCIC) held in January this year, the Action Plan for China-Israel Innovation Cooperation (2022-2024) and cooperation agreements on science and technology, health, culture, environmental protection, clean energy and intellectual property rights were signed. It will add more vitality into China-Israel cooperation. I think the cooperation between China and Israel has achieved fruitful results.

'The Innovation Week has brought many ideas to bilateral exchanges and cooperation'

Xinhua Daily: Ambassador, you visited Changzhou last year when you attended the Second China-Israel Innovation Cooperation and Industrial Investment Conference. How do you feel about the 2022 China-Israel Innovation Cooperation Week this year?

Irit Ben-Abba Vitale: "I Love Israel", "I Love Changzhou" and "Shalom Israel" in Hebrew adorn the park. They are symbols of friendly relations between China and Israel. This is only my second visit to Changzhou, but I am very surprised every time I visit here. Good news keeps coming from the park, whether it is the new settled companies, academic exchanges or cultural activities held here, all of which are practical results of the exchange and cooperation between Israel and Jiangsu.

A series of cultural exchange activities held during Innovation Week became a highlight. Culture mingles here. Young people are enjoying activities such as the Friendship Concert, the Art Exhibition, and "One Day in Israel" cultural salons. Dots Art Exhibition is really a nice one. What a beautiful picture when art works from Israel and Chinese traditional intangible cultural heritage are seen in the same space. The Israeli musicians and Chinese classical musicians perform jointly at the concert. And it is harmony. The concert brings into the mind that Israelis and Chinese work in a very harmonious way, in order to bring inspiration for the friendly cooperation and innovative development between us.

The Innovation Week has brought a lot of inspiration. It's educational and fruitful. It's an enjoyable day.

'CICP is doing excellent jobs'

Xinhua Daily: What do you think of the innovation environment in China? How would you evaluate the development of CICP in the past seven years?

Irit Ben-Abba Vitale: The Chinese environment and capacity for innovation is very impressive. Innovation is a whole ecosystem, and every component needs to be in the right place. It’s a long chain to proceed good innovation. It first requires solid academic research. Then you have to attach importance to the transformation from academic results to industrial results. China has increased the investment in R&D of new technologies. A 1% increase in R&D investment means a huge amount of money. So China attaches great importance to accelerators and incubators. Many innovation centers have been built. In CICP you will find some incubators and innovative enterprises. Therefore, China has created a good environment and a good foundation for innovation.

The park is doing excellent jobs. As the first national innovation park signed by two governments. It's astonishing. It is quite fascinating by its rapid development and many achievements. In seven years, the park has introduced 163 start-up enterprises. The Changzhou Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal government, the leaders and teams of the park have done great jobs to overcome the impact of the epidemic, and promoted various online and offline matchmaking meetings and hosted cultural-exchange events. They are promoting innovation and technology cooperation actively. These efforts are very admirable.

I have learned that a team sent by the park has recently arrived at the Jiangsu Center in Israel to carry out deeper docking in the offshore center in Tel Aviv. I think this is the best way to promote the park.

'Looking for new cooperation opportunities while consolidating existing cooperation achievements'

Xinhua Daily: In which fields can China and Israel carry out more innovative cooperation in the future?

Irit Ben-Abba Vitale: The world is changing. The direction of innovation is also changing. So It's important to touch base, and consolidate existing cooperation achievements. We should continue to explore potential areas of cooperation and look for new opportunities.

I think a better way to work together is to focus on the sectors where cities really want to develop. On renewable energy, for example, we can work more with Changzhou. When it comes to alternative energy, China is doing much better than Israel. But Israel is very dynamic in this area, there are a lot of innovative companies working in the area of renewable energy, water management, and I think this is one of the areas of future cooperation.

Another field is automobile manufacturing. Israel is also strengthening the research on electric vehicles, which coincides with the development strategy of auto parts manufacturing and new energy vehicle industry in Changzhou.

In the field of medical technology, some Israeli medical companies focusing on medical devices have already settled in the park, so there is a good foundation for cooperation.

In the field of agriculture, global climate change, population growth and other phenomena have brought many challenges to agricultural development, so this is why the technology is updating itself in a very quick pace. China and Israel have carried out sound cooperation. We can continue strengthening the collaboration in this area.

Culturally, Israelis and Chinese are alike. We appreciate our ancient cultures and traditions. It enables our two countries to be close to each other despite geographically so far apart. I am looking forward to more personnel exchanges between Israel and China, and more exchanges in culture and art in the future.

As an epitome of the friendly relations between China and Israel, the China-Israel (Changzhou) Innovation Park is full of vitality. I would like to see more Israeli companies settled in the park. I wish our cooperation would be like the tree of friendship we planted in the park, being evergreen with luxuriating leaves.