Israel and Japan signed a memorandum Thursday detailing a partnership in biological research. The two governments will contribute 1.8 million dollars over three years towards combined research efforts. This is the first time that a scientific partnership between the two countries under government backing has taken place.
The signing ceremony took place Thursday afternoon at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Representatives of the Japanese Science and Technology Agency and the director general of Israel’s Ministry of Science attended.
Israel is one of nine countries with which Japan has signed a research plan, in addition to China, India, Korea, US, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Sweden. In 1993, Japan and Israel signed an agreement to cooperate in the fields of science and technology. Since then, the ministers of science have made visits a number of times and even created a joint scientific committee. In this past February, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited Japan, meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo Fukada, on a visit of strengthening relationships between the two countries. Last month, Israel's director general of the Science Ministry, Gal Dei, met with contacts in Japan, in order to press the scientific research agreement forward.
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) aims to establish Japan as a nation built on the creativity of science and technology by promoting research and development.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel exports $85 million of products to Japan annually, including polished diamonds, electrical products, and citrus fruit. Concurrently, Israel imports from Japan $1.1 billion worth of products, including automobiles, machinery, and electrical equipment.