At a ceremony held today at the Intel plant in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel, a reciprocal purchasing agreement worth $550 million was signed between the Industrial Cooperation Authority at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and the Intel Corporation. This is the fourth such agreement, and follows Intel’s decision to upgrade its Fab 28 facility in Kiryat Gat.

Ziva Eger, newly appointed Director of the Division for Foreign Investments and Industrial Cooperation at the Israeli Ministry of Economy, said: “This new reciprocal purchasing relationship is expected to have a significant economic impact on hundreds of small and medium-sized suppliers in Israel. A reciprocal purchasing agreement is a platform leveraging public-sector spending for the benefit of the Israeli economy, both to cultivate local suppliers to compete both locally and internationally, and to brand Israel as an attractive destination for foreign investments. This agreement will create thousands of jobs and reinforce Israel’s standing as a world-leader in technology.”

The new agreement will be effective from 2015 to 2020. The implementation of the agreement will be supervised by the Industrial Cooperation Authority. The scope of Intel’s reciprocal purchasing has reached over $6 billion since the program began in 2006.

Ziva Eger added that cooperation with Intel is a model of reciprocal purchasing agreements for the benefit for both parties in a wide variety of fields, ranging from scientific education to professional training to opening international markets for Israeli manufacturers. This model is the basis of the recent merger between the Industrial Cooperation Authority and the Investment Promotion Center at the Israeli Ministry of Economy.

With Eger’s recent appointment, the two departments at the Ministry of Economy were merged. According to Eger, the merger created “a synergetic relationship between the two areas and will help leverage foreign investments stemming from reciprocal purchasing commitments. It will also deepen Israel’s cooperation with multinationals for the benefit of the Israeli economy.”

CEO of Intel Israel Maxine Fassberg, said: “The agreement signed today between the Industrial Cooperation Authority and Intel is another expression of Intel’s contribution by way of its purchase of equipment, new technologies and Israeli products developed together with Intel.” According to Intel’s data, company purchasing in Israel totaled some $10 billion over the last decade. According to Fassberg, “Intel works with many suppliers from the South of Israel and most of Intel’s purchasing in Israel is a result of its manufacturing activities.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)