Israel Desks - February 2020 Edition

14 Other states are becoming more directly involved. Texas governor, Greg Abbott recently said “Israeli start-ups across a range of sectors, from aeronautics and energy to digital health and cybersecurity, are a natural fit for businesses and institutions in Texas,” as he attended the Tel Aviv headquarters of Israel-based non-profit, Start-Up Nation Central. “There is a connection between businesses in Israel and Texas that make both Israel and Texas far better,” Abbott states. Lustman also added: “The governor of Georgia was recently here leading a delegation, as was the governor of Pennsylvania. The governor of Massachusetts came a few years ago, and the El Al direct flight to Boston happened as a result. This is a market that is ripe for engagement and those who make the effort really reap the rewards, in my opinion.” The commercial relationship has been fruitful for many years and symbolic of the historic ties and friendship, a s Mike Rosen, Partner at Kobre & Kim says. “The most prominent agreement between the two countries is the United States – Israel Free Trade Agreement, which, signed in 1985, was the United States’ first Free Trade Agreement. The effects of the treaty have been remarkable for US-Israel economic relations – between 1985 and 2014, for instance, reciprocal trade in goods expanded more than eight-fold – from USD 4.7 Billion to USD 38.1 Billion . 1 Efforts to improve trade continued through solidifying shared regulations between the two countries, and in February 2017, the US-Israel Business Initiative proposed a new framework to ‘re-energize bilateral commercial relations’ to the U.S. President and Congress. “This recommended a ‘High Level Economic Dialogue’ initiative and an additional Congressional-Knesset committee to enhance communication on economic issues, as well supplements to the existing free trade agreement that cover digital trade and the digitalization of trade certificates.” “The strong connection between the United States’ and the Israeli economy is therefore evident. The opportunities it creates for businesspeople is remarkable, though the extent to which American jurisdiction has an impact on Israeli traders and entrepreneurs is often not fully understood,” Rosen adds. But Israel still holds tremendous appeal to U.S. investors and businesses. “We continue to see that the fields of Saas,AI,mobility and logistics are a few of many areas that seem to have real traction and where Israel has become 1 https://www.usisraelbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/023120_US_ Israel_Trump_Rec_FullReport_web.pdf