Argentina’s vice president visits Israel in bid to boost ties and trade
Nations seek to turn friendship into business, starting with an increase in Jewish state’s imports of kosher meat
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina will export more kosher frozen beef to Israel following an official visit of the country’s vice president.
Gabriela Michetti on Sunday completed an official visit to Israel with an economic team of vice ministers to turn the good relations between both countries “to concrete economic improvements,” she told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting last week.
The first such improvement was announced during the visit: Israel extended the expiration of frozen Argentinean beef from 45 to 85 days, opening a new market of Argentinean kosher meat at Israeli supermarkets. Meat accounts for 63 percent of Argentinean export to Israel.
“We have excellent ties, also with the Jewish community of Argentina. We are also trying to leverage the economic issues. We want to deepen these ties so that bilateral trade and investments will grow. We mainly need to realize this view, that everything is done via actions, trade, investments and the market,” Michetti told Netanyahu during their meeting.
Netanyahu replied “This is me! Mercado, Mercado, Mercado,” using the Spanish word for market.
The Argentine vice president spent Shabbat in Jerusalem and visited the Western Wall.
Mis deseos de paz y unión en el Muro de los Lamentos #Jerusalén pic.twitter.com/xYlF7c7VIj
— Gabriela Michetti (@gabimichetti) January 12, 2018
The visit aimed to promote trade and investment included a seminar with 150 Israeli businesspeople organized by the Israel Export Institute, and also meetings with startups such as Rewalk, which create tools to help disabled. She also visited Beit Issie Shapiro, which cares for children with disabilities. Michetti was injured in a car accident in 1994 which left her wheelchair-bound. On Sunday she learned more about Israeli technologies to help the disabled during a visit to Alyn Hospital.
The Argentinean delegation was surprised by the passion for soccer of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who is a former president of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer club. On Wednesday in Jerusalem he told Michetti that he went to see the World Cup in 1978 in Argentina and that he is a big fan of Argentinean soccer stars Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. “We need to learn from Argentina, we in Israel are doing everything well, except playing soccer,” Rivlin said.
En Raanana #Israel, estuve en Beit Issie Shapiro, una residencia de estimulación temprana para niños con discapacidad. Entre otras terapias innovadoras, vi el funcionamiento del exoesqueleto Rewalk, que les permite caminar a personas con lesión medular. pic.twitter.com/1l9vtQuVi7
— Gabriela Michetti (@gabimichetti) January 11, 2018
The Times of Israel Community.