Vice-premier highlights innovation in Israel visit

Liu calls for increased dynamism in healthcare, entrepreneurship, education

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong highlighted China's innovations when she addressed a series of bilateral events that spotlighted healthcare, entrepreneurship and education during her visit to Israel.

At a China-Israel healthcare cooperation seminar in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Liu said the two countries are expected to "increase dynamism for the two-way cooperation in healthcare industries".

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong said China and Israel are expected to"increase dynamism for the two-way cooperation in healthcare industries", as she addressed a healthcare cooperation seminar in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning during her visit to Israel. Zhang Yunbi / China Daily

Israel enjoys "a well-developed healthcare system, it runs effectively and its technologies pioneer", she said.

China and Israel should deepen cooperation in the healthcare industry's new frontiers and cutting-edge technologies, such as stem cells and regenerative medicine, to "make the biological and pharmaceutical sectors a new driving force for the economic development of the two countries", Liu said.

"China is endeavoring to build a 'healthy China', and is consistently advancing its reform in the medical, pharmaceutical and hygiene system," she said.

Li Shaoxian, a senior expert in Middle East studies at Ningxia University in Yinchuan, in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said China is prioritizing innovation and entrepreneurship when boosting its economy, and such efforts should be catalyzed by China-Israel cooperation.

"Also, in recent years, China's private-owned companies have been increasingly proactive in contacting and working with Israeli high-technology companies," Li said.

Avi Hasson, chief scientist of Israel's economy ministry, suggested people who are in the innovation business should have a strategy for cooperating with China.

China is "increasingly a source of innovation, it's a partner for cooperation, it's a place where you can find the resources of any kind actually needed", he said.

Hasson spoke highly of the inauguration on Tuesday of the online platform of the China-Israeli Innovation Center, which was hosted by Liu and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

He said it is for "all the people in the echo system - investors, enterprises, researchers, government officials - who want to collaborate, who want to find more about existing services."

When meeting with former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres on Wednesday, Liu said "there is huge potential and great prospect for two-way cooperation in various fields, particularly innovation cooperation".

Peres said the two countries both value innovation, and he is delighted to see the outcomes in science and innovation domains.

In Jerusalem on Tuesday, Liu attended the first China-Israel forum of presidents of universities, and expressed hope that the universities will nurture high-end talent and boost business startups and entrepreneurship.

Universities from both sides are expected to "be incubators of high-end talent and a locomotive of innovation and entrepreneurship", and project vision and become think tanks that map out blueprint for future, she said.

Liu is on a three-stop visit to Egypt, Israel and Palestine from until Thursday.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 03/31/2016 page5)