Israel and U.S. Sign Agreement for Joint Technology Commission

In a move timed to coincide with the visit here of the U.S. commerce secretary, Israel and the United States have signed an agreement establishing a joint science and technology commission that aims to create high-tech jobs in both countries.

The joint commission fulfills a promise President Clinton made when he met with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in March 1993.

Representing the United States at the signing ceremony Tuesday was U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who was on a seven-day trade mission in the Middle East intended to encourage the peace process.

The technology commission is being seen here as an important reflection of economic cooperation between the two countries, as well as one of the fruits of the regional peace process.

“It is a great day,” Rabin said at the signing ceremony, adding that the agreement elevates “the level of cooperation in science and technology between our two countries.”

“I believe it will send a signal to those engaged in peace negotiations, that whoever moves toward peace” will gain from cooperation with the United States as well as from “the fruits” of U.S.-Israeli cooperation, he said.

The goals of the new body are to encourage joint high-technology industrial projects; to encourage scientific exchanges between universities and research institutions that would lead to joint commercial activities; to promote the development of new technologies; and to adapt military technology to civilian use.

Present at the signing ceremony along with Rabin and Brown were Israel’s industry and trade minister, Micha Harish, as well as the members of the commission and its private-sector advisory board.

“In a more peaceful world,” said Brown, “we can work together as allies and innovators to help one another become more prosperous, more dynamic and more secure.”

He stressed that the new endeavor “is not about aid” to Israel, but is about a partnership “between equals” that will “generate new products and new technologies” for both countries.

This was a key point for Mel Levine, the former congressman from California, who was in Jerusalem as a member of the commission’s private-sector advisory board.

He said it is significant that they made the commission part of the Commerce Department. “This way it’s part of America’s domestic policy agenda rather than a foreign policy or foreign aid program.”

The accord therefore can be viewed in the United States as “an opportunity to improve our economy” by tapping the “unique strengths” in Israel’s economy for mutual benefit, he said.

Meanwhile, both Harish and Brown said that while the two governments will act as a catalyst, each contributing equally to the commission’s budget, the lion’s share of investments in the projects spawned by the commission will come from the private sector.

Joan Bernstein, a vice president of WMX Technology and Services Inc., a waste management company based in Oak park, Ill., was also in Jerusalem as a member of the private-sector advisory board.

She said Israel’s “very high percentage of very highly skilled technical people,” many of whom are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, will find employment as a result of this joint effort.

An economically “stronger Israel will create stronger prospects for peace,” she said. This, she said, “is in the United States’ commercial interest.”

Bernstein said her company is interested in getting involved in Israel’s planned development of regional state-of-the-art landfills to replace hundreds of old dumps.

At a news conference following the signing ceremony, Brown said he had spoken out against the Arab boycott, both in Amman, Jordan, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, saying it creates a `chilling effect’ on U.S., investment, trade and commerce.

He said he repeatedly expressed his belief that, given recent developments in the peace process, the boycott is “an anachronism” that should be ended.

Brown was scheduled to meet privately with Palestinian business leaders before leaving for Cairo later this week.