Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz and Acting Ministry of Finance director general Doron Cohen today met members of the Israeli delegation at the Bloomberg Sovereign Debt Conference in Frankfurt. "Your coming here is very important for the Israeli economy," he said. "Israel has succeeded in recent years in registering impressive achievements, more than other Western economies. But to continue to enjoy positive growth, we must continue to invest in Israel, and to at least maintain the level of investment."
Cohen said that the support provided by top business leaders was very important for Israel. "When an Israeli CEO of an international company sends a message about investment opportunities in Israel, the message is received very favorably in Europe," he said.
A key panel at the conference discussed Israel as a current investment opportunity. Iscar Ltd. chairman Eitan Wertheimer spoke about the advantages of Israel's skilled workforce. "Competitiveness means reaching the market first with the most innovative thing. To do this, you need to either get up early, or work fast, or both. That's exactly the kind of people we have in Israel, with a hunger and an ability to make connections, which creates the advantage," he said.
Intel Israel general manager Maxine Fassberg said, "Intel came to Israel for the first time in 1974, when it founded a design center in Haifa. The main reason that it came was the quality of the manpower, the engineers, and their ability to solve problems creatively and originally, and ultimately, to create for Intel solutions that would serve the company, and which are still used today."
Fassberg added, "Intel has invested $9.4 billion in Israel to date, while the Israeli government has invested $1.3 billion. This partnership has resulted in the production of Intel's most advanced technologies in Kiryat Gat. The combination of amazing engineering capability with government investment has made Israel very attractive for multinationals. These two things reinforce each other - education and government support for investment."
Former Ministry of Finance director general Haim Shani, who chairs the Committee on Increasing Competitiveness in the Economy, spoke about the current opportunities for investment. "Many foreign investors saw the Israeli economy as small and uncompetitive. As a result of the Competitiveness Committee's conclusions, the market structure is clearer and understable, and there are financial and non-financial assets that will be opportunities, including for foreign investors."
Shani also spoke about the advantages of Israel's cautious regulatory environment and about the fiscal discipline that is part of Israel's culture. He noted that the private sector labor market was one of the most flexible in the world.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 22, 2012
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