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Israeli enterprise agency OurCrowd hosted Colombian President Ivan Duque and a delegation of ministers and entrepreneurs at its Jerusalem headquarters on Monday to ink a brand new settlement that may set up a tech incubator backed by the Colombian authorities, and a fund by means of which investments could be made into OurCrowd portfolio corporations.
The occasion got here a day earlier than the Colombian premier is about to inaugurate a commerce and innovation workplace within the Israeli capital Tuesday, operated by Bogota-based entrepreneurship and innovation company iNNpulsa. The workplace shall be Colombia’s first innovation heart overseas and the federal government has plans to open related places of work in South Korea and San Francisco.
Duque is main a 95-person delegation on a three-day go to to Israel that features the ministers of protection, well being, agriculture, commerce, environmental safety, and transportation. Colombian officers, businessmen, and representatives of the Jewish neighborhood additionally joined the president.
Colombian Transportation Minister Ángela María Orozco was additionally taking part within the Prime Minister’s Sensible Mobility Summit 2021 in Tel Aviv on November 8-9. The convention brings collectively world leaders for dialogue on the way forward for transportation.
That is Duque’s first go to to Israel, and the second by a Colombian president. Juan Manuel Santos visited in 2013.
The OurCrowd gathering on Monday was co-hosted by iNNpulsa President Francisco Noguera and Flavia Santoro Trujillo, the pinnacle of ProColombia, the federal government workplace that promotes overseas funding within the nation.
OurCrowd founder and CEO Jon Medved advised The Occasions of Israel that Colombia was “an rising tech powerhouse in Latin America with a tech-savvy authorities led by President Ivan Duque.”
“We’re excited to companion with the Colombian authorities physique iNNpulsa to deepen tech ties between our two nations. We have already got a number of corporations successfully working there, we’ve got quite a few nice Colombian buyers and we’re trying actively there for brand new investments. If you add the friendliness of the individuals, the great thing about the nation, and the unique seashores and jungles, I feel it is not going to be arduous to get Israeli entrepreneurs to contemplate Colombia as a base for the rising Latin American market of 650 million individuals,” stated Medved.
Over the course of the journey, throughout which Duque will attend quite a few innovation-focused occasions, he’s anticipated to current alternatives for cooperation and funding in Colombian corporations to Israeli entrepreneurs.
Duque additionally met with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett earlier Monday, who stated that the connection between Israel and Colombia “has developed vastly” over time.
“Having you right here in Jerusalem to open the primary Colombian innovation workplace is an indication that our relationship is rising stronger than ever. Expertise and innovation can do outstanding issues, not only for each our nations, however for your entire world,” stated Bennett, in accordance with an announcement by the Prime Minister’s Workplace.
“Colombia is an island of financial stability and regional financial management,” stated Michal Gur Arye, director of the Latin America, Caribbean & Africa financial desk on the International Ministry, throughout a briefing final Thursday forward of the official go to. “Due to this fact, the connection is vital each bilaterally and regionally.”
The free-trade settlement between Israel and Colombia, the third-largest economic system in Latin America, went into impact in August 2020. The settlement is Colombia’s first FTA with any nation within the Center East and can enable 97 p.c of Colombian items to enter the Israeli market with out tariffs.
Duque first introduced his intentions to open the workplace in August 2020, throughout a videoconference with then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking the ratification of a free-trade settlement between the 2 nations.
The brand new mission will assist Colombia “consolidate the alternatives of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” he stated then.
At present, Brazil and Honduras function commerce places of work in Jerusalem. Different nations which have commerce and/or protection places of work within the capital embody the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Australia. Israel has touted the places of work as diplomatic achievements, although they fell wanting hopes for a flood of nations opening full embassies in Jerusalem after the US made the transfer in 2018.
Whereas operating for president in 2018, Duque advised supporters that he can be open to shifting Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem, and needed to enhance good relations with Israel.
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