Quebec announced on Thursday that it will open an office in Tel Aviv, Israel. It's the government's first office in the Middle East and its 35th bureau opened abroad. The office will be located within the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv. The Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie, Martine Biron, said the new establishment will strengthen governmental and institutional relationships in the fields of research and innovation. Quebec has observed a dynamic innovation ecosystem in Israel, one of the most innovative and technologically advanced countries in the world. Israel, which has more than 500,000 French speakers, is a research and development centre for many multinationals, which, according to the Minister, represents tangible opportunities for Quebec to become part of the global value chain in the information technology and life sciences sector. Biron pointed out that Quebec and Israel have maintained relations for over 60 years. Cooperation agreements were signed between the governments in 2007 and 2017 on multi-sector cooperation and the development of cooperation in industrial research and technological innovation. Quebec and Israel have also maintained cooperative ties in terms of university student mobility and academic cooperation for more than 20 years. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Aug. 3, 2023.
