December Edition 2019

12 Bilateral Trade headed to £9 billion mark Indeed, the UK-Israel bilateral trading relationship is one of the strongest for both countries, underpinned by solid political, legal and regulatory ties. Over recent years the two countries have established an even closer relationship. “There is a MOU of binational support in relation to R&D between Israel and UK – between the Israel Innovation Authority and Innovate UK,” points out Yariv Becher, Minister, Head of Economic and Trade Mission to the UK Embassy of Israel in London. The partnership of Israeli technology and innovation with British investment has the potential to provide a major boost in both countries and enhance cutting-edge sectors in the UK. Furthermore with common law legal systems andmeasures in place to protect investors, the two countries have a relationship that is hard to replicate – allowing for business partnerships that can help young companies expand overseas. Certainly, levels of bilateral trade between the two countries have continued to increase – notably hitting a record-breaking £8 billion in 2018 and heading towards the £9 billion mark for 2019 – covering everything from tahini to hi- tech, a major sector where there are considerable synergies between the two countries. This was strongly highlighted by the establishment of the UK-Israel Tech Hub in 2011 at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv. According to the June 2018 UK-Israel Tech Hub impact report , this initiative has already generated an estimated £85 million worth of deals from 175 tech partnerships since its inception. By enabling leading Israeli start-ups to establish a foothold in the UK market, British companies have been given access to Israel’s world-leading innovations, and this is understood to have boosted the UK economy by an estimated £800 million. Israel is a world leader in research and development (R&D), with the highest gross domestic expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP in the world, and the UK has the second highest number of R&D centers in Israel in the world.