"If there is one thing that characterizes 2010, it is of course great uncertainty. Therefore, I prefer to talk about a longer range than 2010," Haim Shani said this morning at the "Globes" Israel Business Conference in Tel Aviv, in a first public utterance since he took up the post of director general of the Ministry of Finance six weeks ago.
In his remarks, Shani emphasized the inequality in Israel, which he pointed out had widened both in the period of growth and in during the crisis, and said he intended to deal with this issue.
"We have had many achievements in the technology sector," said Shani, who before becoming head of the Finance Ministry was CEO of NICE Systems (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE), "but the challenge is to ensure that this growth continues. At the Finance Ministry and at the Prime Minister's Office we are trying to ensure that this miracle keeps us going for many years more.
"Should we look at specific industries in contrast to what we did in the past and encourage them, industries such as cleantech or biotech? In the past, we did most things by ourselves, but today we are looking at cooperation, or expansion of cooperation, with other countries. The benefits of the technology sector will trickle down to other parts of the population, including to haredim and the Arabs."
Shani also commented on the idea of turning Israel into a financial center of international consequence. "I'm not sure Tel Aviv can become a global financial center like New York or London, but if we manage to bring over 500-1,000 Jews with experience in portfolio management, that will give a significant push. In that case, we would not make do with exchange traded funds, but there would be people here who understood how to manage money in the big world. That would have other consequences: in Bet Shemesh, Nazareth, and Ashkelon, there could be support centers for the activity set up in Tel Aviv."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 13, 2009
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