Georgia and Israel
Trade and Population Statistics
| Exports to Israel (2015) |
$182,249,506 |
| Percentage Change (2014-2015) |
-27.32% |
| Total Exports to Israel (1996-Present) |
$2,801,689,491 |
| Israel's Trade Partner Rank (2015) |
41 |
| Military Contracts with Israel (2015) |
$46,232,283 |
| Jewish Population (2015) |
115,100 |
| Jewish Percentage of Population |
1.5% |
Binational
foundation grants shared by Georgia and Israel
Grant recipients in
Georgia from U.S.-Israel binational foundations:
21st
Century Robotics
Arris Corp.
Berry College
Centers for Disease Control
Children's Hospital Medical Center
Clark Atlanta University
Emory University
Eton Systems
Emory Medical School
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia State University
Georgia Tech University
Georgia Tech Research Corp.
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Hays Equipment Co.
LaRoche Industries Inc.
Medical College of Georgia
OFS Fitel, LLC
SITA Inf. Networking Comp. USA Inc.
Scientific Atlanta
University of Georgia
University of Georgia Research Center
USDA Agricultural Research Service
USDA Russel Research Center
USDA Stored Product Insects R&D Lab
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Bilateral
Institutions
American-Israel Chamber
of Commerce Southeast Division - Based
in Atlanta, the Southeast Division of the AICC was established in 1992
to help Israeli businesses explore new markets and develop business
relationships with companies in Georgia as well as Alabama, Mississippi,
North and South Carolina and Tennessee. AICC-SD boasts over 450 members
today amd has earned the reputation as one of the most successful and
effective bi-national business organizations in the United States. Since
its founding, AICC-SD has been involved in completed transactions valued
at over $700 million, thereby contributing to the economies of both
Israel and the Southeastern United States. To learn more about the AICC
Southeast Division, CLICK
HERE.
Georgia Department
of Economic Development Israel Office - This
Georgia government department, founded in 1994, promotes trade, investment,
and tourism in Israel through its international office located in Jerusalem.
It hails itself as the one-stop shop for businesses looking for the
right opportunity to break into the American business market as it can
partner with both public and private sector companies. Learn more about
the GDEcD and its Jerusalem office, CLICK
HERE.
Georgia-Israel Exchange
- Governor Zell Miller created
the Georgia-Israel Exchange in 1992 to explore emerging technology in
both industry and agriculture, enhance trade, encourage tourism and
jointly participate in economic development programs.
Cooperative
Agreements - "Memoranda of Understanding"
None. Please help us build this section. Email AICE with any updates, additions, corrections or comments.
Georgia Government Missions to Israel
January 2012 - Mississippi's Senator
Thad Cochran participated in an official US Senate Appropriations Committee
delegation to Israel with Sen. Daniey Inouye (D-HI) and Sen. Barbara
Mikulski (D-MD), during which the Senators met with Israeli President
Shimon Peres. The group discussed the growing threat of Iran, the Middle
East at large and the Palestinian Authority. To read more, CLICK
HERE.
August 2011 - Congressman Tom Graves
and Tom Price joined a bipartisan Congressional mission to Israel designed
to strengthen the American-Israeli relationship and to provide members
of the government information about the latest security and economic
issues in the Middle East and their impact on U.S. interests. Read more, CLICK
HERE.
March 2011 - The Georgia Department
of Economic Development is planning a trip to Israel in March 2011 that
will be centered on exploring multi-industry trade opportunities between
the two states. The mission will focus on companies in the enviornmental,
telecom, advanced manufacturing and alternative energy industries.
November 2005 - Governor Sonny Perdue
led a delegation that included 36 Georgians on a technology and trade
mission to Israel. State Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams and
State Representative Joe Wilkinson also went with the mission that met
with top ranking Israeli government officials as well as potential Israeli
business investors in the technology and bioscience industries. In his
build-up to the trip, Governor Perdue spoke about the connection between
Georgia and Israel. "Israel is a world leader in business and technology,
and already one of Georgia's major trading partners," said Perdue.
"We expect this mission will generate new economic activity in
Georgia and enhance our state's position as one of Israel's primary
business centers in North America." Read more about the missions
successes, CLICK
HERE.
Partners
For Change
The U.S.-Israel relationship is based on the twin
pillars of shared values and mutual interests. Given this commonality of
interests and beliefs, it should not be surprising that support for Israel
is one of the most pronounced and consistent foreign policy values of the
American people.
It is more difficult to devise programs that capitalize
on the two nations' shared values than their security interests;
nevertheless, such programs do exist. In fact, these SHARED VALUE
INITIATIVES cover a broad range of areas, including the environment,
science and technology, education and health.
As analyst David Pollock noted, Israel is an advanced country with a population that surpassed eight million people in 2013 and a robust, dynamic economy that allowed it to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Between 2005 and 2013, Israel has represented a larger market for U.S. exports than Saudi Arabia. Although Israel's citizenry make up just 3 percent of the total region's population, Israel accounts for 25 percent of American exports in the Middle East.
"It has also been one of the top 20 foreign direct investors in the United States since 2009," Pollock confirms. He adds that "$2.25 billion of the $3 billion in annual U.S. aid to Israel comes back via Israeli purchases of U.S. military equipment - and that is just 5 percent of the total bilateral trade each year."
Today's interdependent global economy requires that
trade policy be developed at the national and state level.
Many states have recognized the opportunity for realizing
significant benefits by seeking to increase trade with Israel. Georgia is one of 33 states that have cooperative
agreements with Israel.
In 2012, Georgia exported over $158,802,552.00 worth
of manufacturing goods to Israel. Since 1996, Georgia exports to
Israel have totaled more than $2,392,988,141.00 and Israel now ranks as Georgia’s
15th leading trade partner.
Additionally in 2012, Georgia received more than $97,403,798.04 in foreign military financing (FMF) for US military aid
to Israel. Some of those companies that have received funding through FMF in 2012 or past years
include: GE Intelligence Platforms Technology in Atlanta, Hewlett-Packard Company in Atlanta, and Horthrop Grumman Support Services in Warner Robins.
Israel is certainly a place where potential business
and trade partners can be found. It can also be a source, however, for
innovative programs and ideas for addressing problems facing the citizens
of Georgia.
Israel has developed a number of pioneering education programs. For example, AICE introduced an innovative Israeli
peer tutoring program to North Carolina that educators adapted for use
in the United States. Now known as Reading Together, the program is
used in 28 states. The program is designed to help students achieve
reading fluency and is mostly used for children in second grade. The
hope is that with its implementation, increasing numbers of students
will perform at grade level or above.
A range of other exciting approaches to social problems
like unemployment, environmental protection and drug abuse have been
successfully implemented in Israel and could be imported for the benefit
of Americans.
The potential for greater cooperation with Israel for
the benefit of Georgia is limited only by the imagination.
Georgia Firms
Profit From Business With Israel
As the only country with free trade agreements with
both the United States and the European community, Israel can act as
a bridge for international trade between the United States and Europe.
Moreover, because of the deep pool of talent, particularly in hightechnology
areas, Israel provides excellent investment opportunities. Some of the
nation's largest companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel
and National Semiconductor have found that it is indeed profitable to
do business in Israel.
More than 100 Georgia companies have discovered the
benefits of doing business in Israel, including BellSouth, CocaCola,
Home Depot and Holiday Inn. Several now have operations based in Israel.
Israelis have been drinking Coke for more than 25 years
and it is the nation's leading soft drink. Carol Martel, who works in
the European Community External Affairs branch of the company, said
the independent bottler in Tel Aviv is one of the most hightech
associated with the company, having developed onsite advances in
computerization.
The Holiday Inn name is a newer one in Israel, introduced
in the last three years after Africa Israel Investments bought a license
to convert the Jerusalem Hilton to a Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, converted
a Tel Aviv property as well and opened hotels in Tiberias and Eilat.
Africa Israel is planning rapid expansion of the chain throughout Israel,
with new hotels slated to open in Eilat, the Dead Sea and Nazareth.
Levin subsequently moved to Atlanta-based U.S. Franchise
Systems, which has a partnership with Isrotel to build a Hawthorne Suites
Hotel in Tel Aviv across from the U.S. Embassy.
Atlanta-based Apica Cardiovascular, a combined Georgia
Tech and Emory University medical-device startup, received a $5.1 million
investment in June 2010 from a partnership of investors that included
TriVentures, a venture capital firm based in Herziliyah, Israel. Apica
Cardiovascular has licensed the Georgia Tech / Emory technology and
will further develop the system which will make the transapical access
and closure procedure required for delivering therapeutic devices to
the heart more routine for all surgeons. The goal is to expand the use
of surgery techniques that are less invasive and do not require stopping
the heart.
In January 2011, it was announced that Canton-based
J&S Chemicals formed a distribution agreement for their speciality
chemical products in the Israeli market through the Ra'anana based Orian
International Marketing, Ltd. Orian, a leading distributor in Israel
of chemicals and materials, specializing in plastics, filtering materials,
professional bonding, and specialized lubricants for industrial applications,
was introduced to J&S Chemicals by the representative office in
Israel of the GDEcD. "We are happy we found a government partner
to collaborate with internationally. The GA department has helped us
in numerous ways, both directly and indirectly," said Thomas Smith
, Sales Manager of J&S Chemical.
Ami Bental, President of Systematic Controls in Kennesaw,
said he was looking to do business in Israel and found a kibbutz on
the Golan Heights that was in the same field, so he worked out a partnership
agreement to manufacture instrumentation and control systems for Israeli
industry. “It has been an extremely successful relationship,”
Bental said. “Israel is a good place to do business.” He is
particularly excited about the prospects for exports from Israel if
the peace process is successful. “Our product has a tremendous
future in Arab states. The potential is unlimited.”
BellSouth is part of a consortium that won the tender
to operate the second cellular phone network in Israel. The consortium
now provides digital phone service at the lowest price in the world
to approximately 900,000 subscribers.
Sandy Springsbased Advance Building Supply opened
the first Ace hardware store in Israel. Atlantabased Home Depot
has not gone that far yet, but it does import products from Israeli
companies.
At least three industry specific exchanges between
Israel and Georgia have been organized by the Atlantabased AmericanIsrael
Chamber of Commerce to promote health care, telecommunications, and
business with software incubators. In addition, 26 Israeli companies
now have U.S. or regional headquarters in Georgia.
One good way to break into the Israeli market is through
a joint venture with an Israeli company. Funding for such projects is
available from the Binational
Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD). BIRD funds projects in 36 states and the District of
Columbia and hundreds of companies including AOL, GE, BP Solar, Texas
Instruments and Johnson & Johnson have benefitted from BIRD grants.
The United States and Israel established BIRD in 1977
to fund joint U.S.-Israeli teams in the development and subsequent commercialization
of innovative, nondefense technological products from which both the
Israeli and American company can expect to derive benefits commensurate
with the investments and risks. Most grant recipients are small businesses
involved with software, instrumentation, communications, medical devices
and semiconductors.
Since its inception, BIRD has funded more than 800
joint high-tech R&D projects through conditional grants totaling
more than $210 million. Products developed from these ventures have
generated more than $8 billion in direct and indirect revenues for both
countries and has helped to create an estimated 20,000 American jobs.
Dr. Eli Opper, the former Israeli chair of BIRD, has
said that BIRD is a strong pillar of US-Israel industrial
cooperation and that the extreme success of BIRD has
led Israel to adopt similar models of R&D with other countries.
Georgia companies have benefited from close to one million dollars in BIRD grants over the last three decades.
ARRIS, a Suwanee, Georgia company who is a leading
provider of broadband access and cable telephony solutions, and Resolute
Networks Ltd., the pseudowire Circuit Emulation Service (CES), have
developed an integrated end-to-end solution enabling Multi-Service Operators
(MSOs) to provision T1/E1 services over standard HFC DOCSIS infrastructure.
The solution was developed based on a grant from the BIRD Foundation.
“The BIRD Foundation is pleased
to see that ARRIS and Resolute Networks have successfully brought this
solution to market,” said Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, the Executive
Director of the BIRD Foundation.
According to Bryant Isaacs, President of ARRIS New
Business Ventures, “The BIRD Foundation grant,
Resolute’s TDM and CES technology expertise and ARRIS’ leadership
in DOCSIS technology and TDM over HFC have helped us productize this
solution rapidly.”
Since its inception, BIRD has funded
more than 740 joint hightech R&D projects. Products developed
from these ventures have generated sales of more than $8 billion, tax
revenues of more than $200 million in the United States alone and created
an estimated 20,000 American jobs. Four Georgia companies have received BIRD grants.
The AmericanIsrael Chamber of Commerce can provide
additional information about BIRD and other business
opportunities in Israel (4048746970).
Scientific
Innovations
Georgia researchers are making scientific breakthroughs
and developing cutting-edge technologies in joint projects with Israeli
scientists thanks to support from the Binational
Science Foundation (BSF). BSF was established in 1972 to promote scientific relations
and cooperation between scientists from the United States and Israel.
The fund supports collaborative research projects in a wide area of
basic and applied scientific field for peaceful and non-profit purposes.
Since its inception, BSF has awarded some $480 million
through more than 4,000 grants in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
BSF-sponsored studies are highly successful
in achieving their two main goals: strengthening the US-Israel partnership
through science and promoting world-class scientific research for the
benefit of the two countries and all mankind. The BSF grants help extend research resources to achieve milestones that might
not otherwise be attainable; introduce novel approaches and techniques
to lead American researchers in new directions; confirm, clarify and
intensify research projects; and provide unmatched access to Israeli
equipment, facilities and research results that help speed American
scientific advances. BSF has documented no less than
75 new discoveries made possible by its research grants and counts 37
Nobel Prize and 19 Lasker Medical Award laureates among its joint partners.
Institutions in Georgia have shared with their counterparts
in Israel nearly $3 million in BSF grants awarded since
1996 alone. The University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Emory are among
the grant recipients.
Albert Padwa of Emory, for example, has been working
for many years with a collaborator from BarIlan University who
shares his interest in alkaloid synthesis. The compounds they are working
with can act as cancer inhibitors and have antibiotic properties; however,
in their natural state they are toxic. Padwa is working at the theoretical
level to maximize the beneficial effects and minimize the harmful ones.
His colleague is the world's expert in the field and does most of the
experimentation.
"We complement each other," Padwa said, "and
have published several papers together." The BSF grant has also made it possible for the two scientists to visit each
other.
BSFsponsored studies benefit
the United States by extending and elaborating research to achieve milestones
that might not otherwise be reached; introducing novel thinking and
techniques that led American researchers to move in new directions;
confirming, clarifying and intensifying research projects; providing
access to Israeli equipment and facilities unavailable elsewhere and
early access to Israeli research results that sped American scientific
advances.
BSF documented no less than 75 new
discoveries that probably would not have been possible without foundationsupported
collaboration. These advances included the development of new methods
and techniques, the discovery of new phenomena and major theoretical
breakthroughs.
Agriculture
Benefits
In 1978 the United States and Israel jointly created
the Binational Agricultural
Research and Development Fund (BARD)
to help fund programs between US and Israeli scientists for mutually
beneficial, mission-oriented, strategic and applied research into agricultural
problems. Since its inception, BARD has funded more
than 1,000 projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia with a
total investment of more than $250 million. In 2000, an independent
and external economic review of 10 BARD projects conservatively
projected more than $700 million in revenue by the end of 2010, a number
which far outweighs the total investment in all BARD projects over its 33 year existence and helps to continually strengthen
the foundation.
Most BARD projects focus on either increasing agricultural
productivity, plant and animal health or food quality and safety and
have been influential in creating new technologies in drip irrigation,
pesticides, fish farming, livestock, poultry, disease control and farm
equipment. BARD funds projects in 45 states and the
District of Columbia and at present is beginning to administer collaborative
efforts between Australia, Canada and Israel as well. It is difficult
to break down the impact on a state-by-state basis, but overall, BARD-sponsored
research has generated sales of more than $500 million, tax revenues
of more than $100 million and created more than 5,000 American jobs.
Georgia institutions have shared grants worth more than $2.6 million
since 1979, with the University of Georgia receiving the lions share.
Edward Law, a biological and agricultural engineer
at the University's Athens campus, has received two BARD grants. The first resulted in the development of an electrostatic sprayer
system that is now used commercially. "The system makes more effective
and efficient use of pesticides," Law said, "and can reduce
the amount of toxic materials used for crop production." The system
can be used in greenhouses and for nursery plants.
Law's second grant is for basic research into the role
of electric forces in the transfer of pollen. The ultimate goal is to
engineer a system to collect and reapply pollen at the most opportune
time to improve crop production.
Law's partners in these projects were from Israel's
Volcani Center. "The collaboration is broadening our base of knowledge,"
Law said. The relationship has worked well, he added, because his colleague's
work compliments his own.
Another professor in Athens is working on alternative
technologies to produce orange juice. Kevin Simpson explained that a
"cloud" forms when orange juice is shaken. He and his collaborators
hope that gaining an understanding of the enzyme that affects the cloud
will obviate the need to use heat to produce orange juice. "I've
learned a lot about citrus processing," Simpson said of the research,
which will continue for at least two more years under the BARD grant. An earlier project involving Georgia researchers found chicken
"fattiness" to be an inherited trait. They developed strategies
for breeding leaner poultry. Georgia researchers also were involved
in work that produced better guidelines for vaccines to prevent egg
production losses caused by infection. Combined with other projects
that developed computer programs to help farmers optimize feed use, BARD grantees have made it possible for Georgia poultry
farmers to breed leaner, more nutritious chickens and produce them more
profitably.
Georgia also benefits from research done elsewhere.
For example, BARD grantees developed a computer model
that predicts whether peach trees will have sufficient winter chill
to permit normal bloom in the Spring, or whether growers should spray
them with special growth control chemicals. Another model predicts bloom
times. "By giving advance warning of possible frost damage,"
a BARD report notes, "the program helps farmers
mobilize in time to prevent significant losses." Another computer
model helps cotton farmers develop optimal irrigation and fertilization
strategies.
Other Cooperative
Programs
In October 2004, a new partnership was launched between
the University of Georgia and Hebrew
University to study the effects of terrorism on children. The program began with an international symposium on terrorism
in Jerusalem. Topics that
were addressed included the effects of exposure on terrorism and the
rights of victims of terror. A second conference is scheduled for April
13, 2005, on the UGA campus. The project, aimed at improving services
to terror victims, was initiated after Mark Lusk, UGA's associate provost
for international affairs visited Israel to review hospital protocols
after a terrorist attack.
In May 2007, a group of sixteen law enforcement professionals
traveled to Israel to study the counterterrorism techniques and emergency
management methods of their Israeli counterparts as part of the Georgia
International Law Enforcement Exchange, a federally funded program run
by Georgia State University. This visit was a follow up to a 2005 trip
of Israeli police to Hall County, GA.
In August 2012, students at the University
of Haifa and the University of Georgia partook in the same comparative
health systems course through innovative technology that facilitated
their educational experience. Professor Richard Schuster, who directs
the Center for Global Health at UGA, traveled to Israel with six American graduate students, while the remaining American students
took the class from Georgia. “This is new technology, and it’s
very exciting," Schuster said. "Part of what we’re learning
about globalization is that education can be globalized – that
half of the class can be in one location and the other half of the class
can be ten thousand kilometers away."
Israeli solar energy company Energiya opened Georgia's first commercial-scale solar field in Glynn County, on June 3, 2016. Energiya Global won a $30 million, 20-year contract to build the solar field in coordination with Georgia Power in 2014. Once fully operational, the solar field will produce 22.5 megawatts of electricity. Nine other similar projects are being completed throughout Georgia, with different companies heading each one, and this field was Energiya's 10th commercial-sized solar field. Energiya's US subsidiary, Energiya USA, created a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education program within the county school system.
Sister Cities
UJA Partnership
2000 Communities
State
Contacts:
Hillel
Campus Profiles
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
2839 Paces Ferry Rd., #1255
Atlanta, GA 30339
Tel. 404-333-8626
Fax. 404-333-8630
American-Israeli Chamber of Commerce-SE Region
1100 Spring St., #410
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel. 404-874-6970
Fax. 404-874-7277
Email. [email protected]
Web. http://www.aiccse.org
Atlanta Jewish Federation
1440 Spring St., NW
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel. 404-870-1635
Fax. 404-874-7043
Georgia Department of Industry, Trade & Tourism
Lynn Douek, Associate Director
c/o Atid EDI Ltd
Bldg. 2, Har Hotzvim, P.O. Box 45005
Jerusalem
Israel 91450
Tel. 25710199
Fax. 25710713
Email. [email protected]
URL: www.atid-edi.com/georgia.htm
Fred Roberts Crawford Witness to the Holocaust Project
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
Tel. 404-329-6428
Israeli Consulate
1100 Spring St., N.W., #440
Atlanta, GA 30309-2823
Tel. 404-875-7851
Fax. 404-874-5364
JCRC, Jewish Federation
1753 Peachtree Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel. 404-873-1661
Fax. 404-874-7043
Jewish Federation of Augusta
P.O. Box 15443
Augusta, GA 30919
Tel. 706-737-8001
Jewish Federation of Columbus
P.O. Box 6313
Columbus, GA 31907
Tel. 706-568-6668
Jewish Federation of Savannah
P.O. Box 23527
Savannah, GA 31403
Tel. 912-355-8111
Zachor Holocaust Center
1753 Peachtree Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel. 404-873-1661
Fax. 404-874-7043
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