Joint UAE-Israel food and water security conference announced

The first-ever UAE-Israel food security summit will take place later this month, bringing together Israeli food and water security companies and investors from the UAE.

GoforUAE-Israel Food Security Investment Conference will have experts from both countries explore strategic partnerships and capital market opportunities. This event aims to improve the productivity of desert environments in the Middle East and worldwide.

To be held on January 18, the online conference will address pertinent issues in agriculture and food security such as precision agriculture, desert farming, development of resilient species, advanced storage solutions and more.

“Our mission for this event is to introduce emerging technologies that can facilitate the UAE access to food security solutions in the long term”, said Edouard Cukierman, chairman of Cukierman Investment House and Managing Partner at Catalyst Funds.

“Since its founding in 1948, Israel has never stopped inventing agricultural technologies that greatly improve farming everywhere, especially in arid areas. Israel gladly shares its experience, innovations and achievements in this field with the rest of the world. With Similar weather, conditions and water scarcity to the UAE, and 60 per cent of Israel’s land covered by the Negev desert, Israel and the UAE can jointly make an impact on desert farming to enable quality, available food in the Middle East and worldwide,” he added.

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Hundreds of investors from the UAE have already registered for the conference to explore some of Israel’s most promising and innovative solutions for food and water security and agtech, the organisers said.

Participating Israel firms include Saturas, a pioneer of in-tree water intelligence systems based on water monitoring from within the plant. Saturas can then offer tailored irrigation based on the crop’s real-time water needs, resulting in efficient water use.

Also taking part is Ramat Negev Research & Development, an R&D center that develops agro-technical methods suitable for desert conditions. Ramat Negev R&D has recently established a new ag-tech innovation center jointly with Arieli Capital to boost Negev agriculture through co-developing with emerging startups.