Israel Active

Israel’s Ormat Technologies will supply the energy converters for the $1.7 billion 330-megawatt Sarulla geothermal power plant in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Also, New Zealand inaugurated its 13th and largest Ormat Power Plant – the 100MW Ngatamariki facility.

Israel, China and Europe are getting excited about the building of a $2 billion, 300-kilometer rail link connecting Eilat, on the Red Sea, with Ashdod on the Mediterranean. Construction of the alternative to the Suez Canal will commence within 12 months and take five years to complete.

Daniel Abrahams is emigrating to Israel and taking his innovative currency exchange comparison website with him. CurrencyTransfer.com can make significant savings for import-export Israeli businesses.

Stephen Schoenfeld is the Chief Investment Officer of BlueStar Global Investors, a firm he launched in 2010 with the explicit purpose of driving investors towards Israeli capital markets. He markets Israel as a sound investment, with Israeli equities increasing by 324% since 1997.

The Palestinian Authority may be telling others to boycott Israeli products, but its imports from Israel in Jan 2014 grew at a rate of 17.2%, while imports from other countries were down 16.4% compared to January of 2013. Merchants said Israeli goods are higher quality than from Arab countries.

Swedish retailer IKEA has opened its third Israeli store, to join those in Netanya and Rishon Lezion. The new 2,700-square-meter facility is in Kiryat Ata, near Haifa. IKEA expects to sell 25 million products to 5.4 million Israeli customers in 2014.

Bezeq International is the first Israeli telecommunications company to establish a physical presence in the Far East as a result of its deployment of an undersea cable. The company has established a point of presence in Hong Kong for customers seeking communications services with Israel.

A 30-strong group of Israeli companies specializing in retail and water technology met heads of British corporations, including Marks and Spencer, Tesco and ASOS to strengthen trade ties with the UK. The initiative was part of the TeXchange program.

Jewish Life TV will air Israel’s i24news on American cable and satellite networks. This is the first time that the Jaffa-based i24news will be shown to an American audience via television, and not just online. i24news will provide 15 hours of weekly magazine content.

The Brazilian Air Force will operate the new Hermes 900 UAV from Israel’s Elbit Systems to protect 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer games.