Daily E-LETTER (11.1.2023) on Business&more from Israel&Abraham Accords by 'VonNaftali' /#11

What's in: Abraham Accords: Abraham Accords: Negev Forum under preparation, Business: India's richest man buys Port of Haifa, Start-ups: Sharp Drop in Investment. No Reason for Panic

Abraham Accords: ‘Negev Forum Steering Committee’ to prepare ‘Negev Forum’ in Morocco – Results&Reactions

The Negev Forum Steering Committee and Working Groups convened in Abu Dhabi on 9 – 10 January 2023, to prepare for the upcoming Ministerial meeting to prepare the Negev Forum to be held in Morocco as reported on VonNaftali.

As a reminder, the background again: The historic, inaugural ‘Negev Summit’ that took place at Sde Boker in the Negev of Israel on March 27-28, 2022, with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Morocco, the United States of America and hosted by the State of Israel, sent a strong message of peace based on principles of dialogue, coexistence, and mutual respect within the spirit of Abraham Accords.

Result was the establishment of the ‘Negev Forum’. Purpose of the ‘Negev Forum’ is to expand regional economic and security integration for Israel and its Arab allies. The common threat is the islamic Mullah regime of Iran.

The preparation for the next Negev Forum Summit in Morocco is done within three sessions aka meetings hosted by UAE: The Negev Forum Steering Committee. Basic document is the ‘Negev Forum Regional Cooperation Framework Document‘, adopted on 10 November 2022. Read more on VonNaftali like position of USA, Hamas threats against Negev Forum and more.

Next Step of Establishing a New Super Economy Space finalized: India buys Port of Haifa – D/E

As Reuters and Jerusalem Post are reporting the deal between Israel and India’s ‘Adani Group‘ finalized. The now former state-owned Port of Haifa (Haifa Port Company, a governmental company) get sold for $1,15 billion.

The consortium is led by the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. It is said that he has a net fortune of about $125 billion and should be the third richest man on earth.

The consortium has two players: The ‘Adani Group’ with 70% share and ‘Gadot Chemical Tankers and Terminal Ltd.’ holding 30% of the ownership. The consortium won the tender in July of the year 2022 and got it today finalized. Read more on VonNaftali

Drop in Investments in Israeli High Tech Industry – No reason for Panic. But the Homefront is the Challenge

After the super year 2021, the investment volume fell in Israel’s classic high-tech industry. There is no doubt that this should not be taken lightly, but there is also no reason to panic, as some headlines in so-called business newspapers – especially in Europe – suggest. The main challenge is the so-called ‘homefront’ (political institutions, infrastructure, and bureaucracy)

The market is in a global recession due to the warmongering of dictators such as Russia, Iran, or China and Covid has of course left its mark. In addition, market adjustments are currently taking place in the “traditional” high-tech sector and the focus is shifting to the innovative fields of medicine, food production, sustainable energy production, and space industry as well as quantum computers.

In other words, Israel’s startup landscape and ecosystems are in the process of being reshaped and restructured. The global market is simply saturated with cybersecurity startups and the like.

Finally, one must also name homegrown factors. First and foremost, the political institutions, inadequate infrastructure, and bureaucracy. They are explicitly mentioned as negative factors for Israel in the last WIPO innovation ranking. Israel is losing rankings for the fourth year in a row and is no longer in the top 10 as on VonNaftali reported. Read more on VonNaftali.