Hopes high for increased trade between Manitoba and Israel

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This article was published 24/06/2019 (2648 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Trade promoters hope a modernized Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement will encourage more Manitoba exporters to consider the Israeli market.

The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg organized a meeting including Manitoba friends of Israel along with a strong contingent of other Manitoba business leaders to hear International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr talk about the advantages and new opportunities in doing business with Israel.

“As our country’s first Jewish minister with an international focus, I am proud of the partnership between our two countries, and will seek to continue to deepen the ties between us with each passing year,” Carr said at an event Monday morning at the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

Although exports to Israel from Manitoba totalled only $11.7 million in 2018, that was up 35 per cent from the previous year. Countrywide exports to Israel are up 12.2 per cent from five years ago.

The original Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1997. Carr said it needed refreshing just like most trade deals to address new technology issues like e-commerce, as well as including new language that promotes gender equality and overall human rights. The updated deal received royal assent in Canada a month ago and after the Israeli government ratifies the deal, which Carr said should happen soon, Canadian exports of agriculture, agri-food and fish and seafood products will have much more favourable tariff treatment.

Stanley Gomes, Canada’s commercial counsellor to Israel based in Tel Aviv, said the fact that Israel is a relatively small country — with a population of about nine million — means Canadian exporters need to have the right business plan that will make sense there.

But he said with a GDP per capita similar to that of Canada’s and food prices in Israel that are much higher than the average in developed countries, Canadian exporters — especially those from the agri-food sector — will not have to worry about discounting export sales prices to Israel.

Although the total volume of trade is not huge — $1.9 billion in two-way trade between the two countries last year — Canadian companies that do have success there say it is easy doing business in Israel. Shared values, long-standing political connections and a business culture that has a casual feel to it make it a little easier than other places to work.

Howard Loewen, CEO of MicroPilot, a Stony Mountain company that develops specialized operating systems for drones, concurred with that assessment. He said things are so straightforward that he did not even really feel the effects of a free trade agreement.

‘As our country’s first Jewish minister with an international focus, I am proud of the partnership between our two countries’– International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr 

MicroPilot has customers in “dozens” of countries, and Loewen said his company was fortunate to be able to respond to queries from the Israeli military and now has more than 10 customers in the private sector as well. Next to the U.S. and China, Israel is the company’s third-largest export market.

“I can’t really claim any credit for doing business with Israel,” he said. “I really just answer the phone.”

But that’s understating the fact that MicroPilot’s control systems have been in demand around the world, and the company counts militaries in several countries, including Israel, as customers.

“Israel has done lots of work with drones and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and it’s a leader in the use of drones for military surveillance, which has now spilled over to the commercial space,” he said.

Loewen said MicroPilot does a lot of business online, but irrespective of the efficiency of that kind of tool, he said many younger entrepreneurs might not realize the value of face-to-face meetings with international customers.

“Yes, we had a product that was of interest, but I went there and went there often,” he said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca