The Hungarian-Israeli Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation held its fifth session in Zalaegerszeg and Budapest on 11-12 June. “Following the meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries last summer, the development of self-driven cars has become one of the priority areas of accelerated bilateral cooperation”, Minister for Innovation and Technology and Chair of the Committee’s Hungarian delegation László Palkovics said in summary at the plenary session of the body on 12 June in Budapest.

“At least as important as the intent to realise successful intergovernmental cooperation is the facilitation of the establishment of relations between members of the private sector. In the short term, substantive progress in the development of cooperation can primarily be expected within the fields of innovation, telecommunications, transport and tourism”, Committee Co-Chair and head of the Israeli Economy Ministry’s Foreign Trade Administration Ohad Cohen said.

At the meeting between the two countries’ prime ministers, Viktor Orbán and Benjamin Netanyahu, in Budapest in July 2017, the parties signed a memorandum stating their intent to realise innovation cooperation, including within the fields of Industry 4.0 and self-driven cars. Accordingly, autonomous and connected vehicles and the development of related technologies was one of the priority topics of the session of the Joint Committee.

On the first day of the meeting, the delegations met at the Zalaegerszeg automotive industry test track to discuss Hungarian-Israeli cooperation opportunities. The construction of the most advanced facility of its kind in Central Europe has been ongoing for the past year and work on the oval test track is already underway. In addition to experts from the two governments, the representatives of 23 Hungarian and 11 Israeli enterprises were also afforded an opportunity to showcase their activities and propose joint projects.

Mr. Palkovics called for the parties to utilise the joint research and development financing fund established by the two countries with a budget of 1 million euros each with joint projects at the earliest opportunity. Hungary is ready to finance the possible demand for further funding arising from cooperation between enterprises and universities, he added.

Following the plenary session, the parties signed a document confirming their commitment to boosting bilateral relations, including joint measures aimed, amongst others, at realising cooperation with relation to scientific research and innovation, ICT and digital technology, space technology, transport and automated driving. The next, sixth meeting of the Joint Committee is expected to be held in 2019 in Jerusalem.

The Hungarian-Israeli Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation was established ten years ago in May 2008 in the interests of establishing closer economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. László Palkovics has been the Committee’s Hungarian Co-Chair since last September.

Israel is the third largest investor in Hungary, and in 2014 the 11.4 billion dollars in Israeli direct capital investment represented 12 percent of the total foreign capital invested in Hungary. According to data from the Central Statistical Office, the 172 Israeli-managed subsidiaries operating in Hungary provide employment to over 4500 people. The Hungarian Government has concluded strategic partnership agreements with NNG and the TEVA Group.

((Ministry for Innovation and Technology))