Flaggen Israel und Deutschland

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Germany and Israel want to work more closely together on promoting innovative startups, networking young technology companies, and building up a climate-neutral energy supply. This was underlined by Federal Minister Robert Habeck and his Israeli counterpart Nir Barkat at their first meeting in Berlin today. A German-Israeli energy partnership has existed between the two countries since 2022. The countries are linked together by trade totalling €8.6 billion (2022).

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said: Because of our history, Germany bears a special responsibility. This continuity also governs the economic relations between our countries. Germany and Israel are linked by vigorous and close economic cooperation in many fields.
Both countries are facing the need to restructure their energy sectors to make them climate-neutral. This process entails a host of interactions between the supply of electricity, heat and cold, and the creation of new markets for storage technologies, digitalisation and climate-friendly energy sources. Our energy partnership is helping us to learn quickly from each other and to give a fresh boost to cooperation in the energy sector and beyond. Israel provides an outstanding example in the field of funding for innovative startups and support for the startup community, and we can keep learning from this.

Nir Barkat, Minister of Economy and Industry

“As a grandson to Holocaust survivors who lost 30 family members during the Holocaust, I am excited and proud to visit Germany as Minister of Economy representing the State of Israel.

This visit here in Germany have proven to me how many opportunities Israel and Germany have.

Israel and Germany are complementary economies. Germany has impressive industrial capabilities while Israel has innovative startups in a variety of business clusters.

Together we can reach new heights. The potential I see is tremendous.

The economic relations between Israel and Germany are flourishing and constantly growing. In 2022, the bilateral trade volume amounted to 9.5 billion dollars, which reflect a 10% increase compared to 2021.

We have identified a number of clusters in which Germany and Israel have the opportunity to collaborate, such as Industry 4.0, life sciences and homeland security.

Our goal is to jointly make Germany a hub and a platform to scale Israeli companies that wish to set a global presence.

Israel and Germany recently signed a historic agreement in which Israel will supply Germany with the Israeli Arrow missile defence system. This is a significant leap forward which can be made only between trustworthy friends, especially in light of the current and future threats both countries are facing.”


Representatives of the Israeli startup and innovation community will also be attending the event entitled “The First Year of the Startup Strategy”, which will take place in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action on 12 September.

One of the flagship projects in the energy partnership is the trilateral cooperation in the energy partnerships between Germany, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. This week, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action welcomed delegations from these countries to Berlin for a trilateral dialogue on sustainable urban development. Solutions for sustainable urban planning, decarbonisation of the building sector, energy and climate management, energy efficiency, sustainable cooling and smart buildings were discussed in the context of this joint study tour by energy and climate experts from Israel and the United Arab Emirates.