• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a joint declaration between Florida, the Israel Innovation Authority, and the Israel-American Chamber of Commerce to promote strategic partnerships and trade commerce between the two entities, with a focus on the healthcare industry.
• Bilateral trade between Florida and Israel has increased by 18.2 percent between 2016 and 2021, and by 44.5 percent between 2011 and 2021.
• A joint venture between Avenger Flight Group and Israel Airlines will see the construction of a new flight training center in Israel with simulators provided by Avenger, while Florida Atlantic University is partnering with Insightec to research neuroscience activities related to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a joint declaration on Thursday between the state of Florida, the Israel Innovation Authority, and the Israel-American Chamber of Commerce to promote strategic partnerships and trade commerce between the two entities.

Between 2016 and 2021, bilateral trade between Florida and Israel increased by 18.2 percent, and by 44.5 percent between 2011 and 2021. In 2022, bilateral trade between Florida and Israel reached $651 million. Moreover, based on statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Israel is the twentieth largest foreign investor in Florida, accounting for 2,200 jobs.

“This declaration will promote greater cooperation, strategic partnerships, and trade investments between Israel and Florida by exploring avenues for economic and business collaboration with a special emphasis on the healthcare industry,” said DeSantis. “We’ve seen merchandise trade grow dramatically since I’ve been governor.”

The governor also announced a multi-million joint venture between Fort Lauderdale-based Avenger Flight Group and Israel Airlines. The partnership will see the construction of a new flight training center in Israel with simulators provided by Avengers, creating jobs both domestically and abroad.

Florida Atlantic University is also entering an educational and research with Israeli company Insightec to research neuroscience activities specifically related to novel therapies for specific diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

In 2019, DeSantis led a trade mission to Israel to strengthen economic ties between the two governments. The trade mission included representatives from over 90 Florida businesses and organizations, making it one of the largest trade missions in the state’s history.

“We had our major trade mission in 2019 here, which was really historic,” said DeSantis on Thursday. “We had a massive, massive delegation and we ended up signing more than 20 Memorandum Of Understandings (MOU) between universities, research centers, [and]government agencies with their Israeli counterpart. That’s everything from medical to space and everything in between.”

According to Enterprise Florida, Florida and Israel signed an MOU in 2013 to promote collaborative research, development, and commercialization of projects related to aviation, aerospace, and life sciences.

Under this agreement, the governments of Israel and Florida have matched each other, dollar for dollar, to establish a fund to provide grants to Israeli and Florida companies that present joint research and development projects for innovative technologies.