During the visit, Commissioner Potočnik will meet with government ministers and take part in a conference on Israel's participation in the Seventh Research Program (FP7) of the European Union, which will be held at Bar-Ilan University
The European Commissioner for Research and Science Janz Potočnik will pay his first official visit to Israel on January 17-18. Israel has been a full member of the European research programs since 1996 and both the European Union and Israel benefit from this cooperation. During the visit, Commissioner Potočnik will meet with government ministers and take part in a conference on Israel's participation in the Seventh Research Program (FP7) of the European Union, which will be held at Bar-Ilan University. In addition, he will meet with representatives from the academic community and the Israeli business community. His talks with Israel will focus on the preparation, which has already begun, for Israel's participation in the seventh research program, and on emphasizing the importance of scientific research as a component of the European Union's relations with Israel. The promotion of cooperation in science and technology is one of the shared priorities decided upon by the parties in the action plan between the European Union and Israel, which is currently being implemented within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy.
Commissioner Potuchnik said: "The Israeli research bodies have collaborated with their European colleagues in more than 500 projects, which were financed by the sixth framework program. I look forward to using my visit to Israel to talk with researchers and companies that participated in the previous programs, to hear firsthand what they achieved from their participation, and to encourage them to participate in the seventh framework program. I am sure that Israel will be an active, reliable and effective partner in the new plan, as it was in the past.
Israel, as a member country of the program, participates in it in the same status as the European Union countries. She did this very successfully in the previous programs, especially in areas such as information, communication technologies and life sciences. During his visit, Commissioner Potočnik will express his confidence that the negotiations for Israel's participation in the Seventh Framework Program will be concluded soon. The Seventh Framework Program will contain several new elements that could be very interesting for Israeli researchers, such as the European Research Council, which will provide funding for groundbreaking research.
During his two-day visit to Israel, Commissioner Potuchnik will visit existing cooperation projects between the European Union and Israel. He will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, with Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment Eli Yishai and Acting Minister of Science, Culture and Sports Yael Tamir. On the sidelines of the conference at Bar-Ilan University, he will brief the press about his visit and meet with the president of the university, Professor Moshe Keva.
