Russia interested in boosting cooperation with Israel - PM Medvedev

JERUSALEM, November 10. /TASS/. Russia is interested in boosting cooperation with Israel in the field of innovations and agriculture, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said following the talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. "We’re not just interested in boosting the trade turnover, which has declined recently, we’re interested in a completely different nature of the relationship. We would like the kind of cooperation in particular thanks to the documents we have signed now," he said. When responding to the words of Benjamin Netanyahu who said that in development of economic ties Russia and Israel have the score 2:1, Medvedev said that "so far the score is 0:0". "So far we have not done anything to push the economic and investment cooperation. Therefore we met today and therefore we signed the documents my colleagues are holding in their hands," Medvedev said. The Russian Prime Minister gave several examples. "Let’s take agriculture: Russia has unique conditions for agricultural business, and Israel has excellent technologies. If we join our approaches we can get an outstanding result, not only supplying each other with food but also entering the markets of third countries," Medvedev said. Innovations are another promising area for cooperation. he said. "Israel, of course, is a very advanced in this area," he said. Medvedev expressed hope that cooperation in this field will also be continued. "But it should not be only exchange of ideas but these should be breakthrough commercial ideas. It is necessary to ensure that we can earn money with these ideas," the head of the Russian government said. Medvedev expressed hope that the two countries may advance in this direction thanks to their common cultural basis. He marked an increase of mutual tourist flow. According to him, about 300,000 Russian tourists visited Israel last year. The Russian Prime Minister recalled that when he first visited Israel in 1992, the number of visitors could be measures in tens of people. Read more