Israel eyes raising trade with PH to $1B in 2024

Israel was hoping to increase its bilateral trade with the Philippines to over $1 billion next year, its top diplomat said Monday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said his country was optimistic that the target amount could be breached after Manila and Tel-Aviv’s bilateral trade reached over $500 million in 2022.

“In 2022, our bilateral trade for the first time overpassed half a billion dollars. I think this is only the beginning. We can overpass $1 billion in 2024,” Israel’s top diplomat said at a business forum in Makati City on his second day visiting the country.

“This is something that is definitely achievable… I think the markets in the Philippines is very attractive,” he added.

As of 2022, the Philippines and Israel’s bilateral trade is pegged at $534 million in goods, data from Israel’s Economic &

Commercial Mission to the Philippines showed.

The figure is “an impressive 70 percent Year-Over-Year growth rate, driven by the rebounding of both the Israeli and Philippine economies in 2022 following the Covid-19 crisis,” according to the agency.

Around half of Israel’s over $300 million worth of exports to the Philippines consist of electronics, defense-related items,