Gov. Jerry Brown to sign trade pact with Israeli prime minister
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week in Silicon Valley to sign a trade, research and economic development pact between Israel and California.
The agreement, Brown’s office announced Friday, will emphasize cooperation on water conservation, alternative energy, cybersecurity, health and biotechnology, education and agricultural technology.
It also will allow Israeli companies to access California’s Innovation Hub program, in which research parks, federal laboratories and universities collaborate with businesses, venture capitalists and economic development organizations.
Netanyahu will meet with Brown next Wednesday at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. The Jersalem Post reports that Netanyahu will also meet with Jan Koum, chief executive of WhatsApp, the mobile messaging company that was bought last week by Facebook for $16 billion, while in Silicon Valley.
Brown alluded to a partnership between California and Israel in January, when he appeared at an event hosted by the American Jewish Council in Los Angeles.
“We’re going to make another initiative, on alternative energy, on electric batteries on cars. There’s a lot of things that California and Israel can lead together, in a partnership for creative change for a sustainable future,” Brown said, according to a Jewish Journal report.
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