Israel Active

Israel's Composite State of the Economy Index for Jan 2014 increased by 0.3 percent. Exports of goods and services rose significantly. The IMF also said that Israel’s economic fundamentals remain strong, with solid GDP growth and low unemployment and inflation.

Noble Energy has signed a 15-year agreement in the Jordanian capital of Amman, to sell at least $500 million of gas from the Tamar field to two Jordanian companies. It is the first export deal for Israeli natural gas. A pipeline will go through the Dead Sea to Jordan.

(Thanks to Size Doesn’t Matter) Toronto’s Porter Airlines and Israel’s EL AL have signed an agreement. They will co-ordinate operations at Newark International Airport in New Jersey to connect passengers between Tel Aviv and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and other Canadian destinations.

Israel Railways has reported a new record in the number of passengers. Israeli trains carried 45 million passengers in 2013, 12% more than in 2012. The growth was due to the opening of new lines plus more new double-decker carriages. Punctuality rose to 93.3% from 90% in 2012.

Japanese Internet giant Rakuten has just bought Israeli-developed video and voice communications app Viber for $900 million. Viber allows users to make free phone and video calls within its network, and has over 200 million users all over the world.

Good economic summary by Yoram Ettinger.

(Thanks to algemeiner) Ten of Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s former colleagues at Cyota have built companies of their own. One, Michal Tzur, co-founded open source video platform Kaltura, which has just raised an additional $47 million of capital.

IT giant Google has acquired the staff and intellectual property of Israeli start-up SlickLogin. The Israeli company is developing applications using ultrasound and smartphones, to allow users more easily to login securely. SlickLogin’s founders served in the IDF elite cyber security unit.

Overseas investment in the Israeli Stock Exchange tripled in 2013 from $410 million in 2012 to $1.5 billion. Bio-techs, banks and communications companies were the most popular.

The UK-Israel Tech Hub has organized the Go Global Program for Digital Arabic Content Entrepreneurs. The Hub hopes to spark business ties between the Israeli companies and firms that can bring that technology to the Arabic-speaking world.