The Israel-Finland Chamber of Commerce

The Israel-Finland Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1997 by Yuval Yerushalmi, who is an Honorary Consul of Finland in Jerusalem. The Chamber promotes business and trade between Israel and Finland, both on the public and private sectors.

President Sauli Niinistö welcomes Mr. Yuval Yerushalmi at his office in Helsinki

President Sauli Niinistö welcomes Mr. Yuval Yerushalmi
at his office in Helsinki

President Sauli Niinistö welcomes Mr. Yuval Yerushalmi at his office in  Helsinki

The Bilateral trade between Finland and Israel stood at € 255 million in 2010.
(Finnish exports: € 168 million, Israel exports: € 87 million.). Israel buys from Finland machine tools and telecommunications equipment as well as chemicals and food: (wine, vegetables and fruits). Full details rgarding Israel’s foreign trade can be found on this page on The Central Bureau of Statistics Web Site. For more information regading Israel’s trade with the OECD Countries please check these statistics on the OECD website.

Israel’s economy is oriented on developing advanced technologies; its fastest growing sectors are start-ups and high Tech innovations. Israel is regarded worldwide as a center for Telecommunication and Software.
A unique phenomenon in Israel’s economy is the pivotal rules of the Venture Capital organizations, which provide financial support to the growing High-Tech Industry. The High-Tech industry and the Venture Capital industry are responsible for Israel being a leading country as far as number of listings on the NASDAQ, second only to the USA and Canada. Israel has also developed a significant pharmaceutical industry; Israel’s biggest company, “Teva” is a world leader manufacturer of pharmaceutical products.

In September 2010, Israel joined the OECD.  And signed a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.

One of Israel’s most successful instruments to enhance its economy is the Technological Incubators. The Technological Incubators were established by the Office of the Chief Scientist and are owned by non-profit organizations. The government and public bodies participate in the expenses of running the incubators. In addition, private donors, local authorities, universities and high-tech business enterprises are involved. (Please click here for a list of all incubators)

About half of the projects initiated at the Incubators succeed and manage to attract outside investors and leave the protective environment of the incubator after two years.                   A powerful instrument in the bilateral relations between Israel and Finland is the Agreement on Bilateral Industrial Research and development cooperation that was signed recently between the countries.
The program supports commercially focused joint industrial R&D projects between Israeli and Finnish companies in all technological fields. For further details please click here.

For more info regarding questions relating to bilateral trade and commerce between Israel and Finland please contact:
y_yerushalmi@013net.net