![PM Bennett Thanks Ecuadoran President for ‘Change in Policy Toward Israel’ PM Bennett Thanks Ecuadoran President for ‘Change in Policy Toward Israel’](https://s6064.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/PM-Bennett-and-Ecuadoran-Pres.-Guillermo-Lasso-768x500.jpg)
Jerusalem, 12 May, 2022 (TPS) — Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso in Jerusalem on Thursday and congratulated him on the first official visit to Israel made by a President of Ecuador.
Lasso is in Israel with the Ecuadoran ministers of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, and Production, Foreign Trade and Investments, and a group of 100 members of academia and business.
During their meeting, the two discussed “bilateral cooperation in innovation, technology and public security.”
Bennett commended Lasso on the innovation office that Ecuador is established in Jerusalem, alongside that of Colombia, and also thanked him for “leading a change in Ecuadoran policy toward Israel.”
Lasso announced on Thursday during a festive ceremony at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem the opening of an Ecuadorian office of innovation in Jerusalem.
The opening of the Ministry of Innovation in Jerusalem is one of the highlights of the Ecuadorian President’s historic visit to Israel and took place “thanks to his desire to strengthen entrepreneurship and innovation in his country.”
As part of the ceremony, Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, and Ecuadorian Minister of Commerce Julio Jose Prado signed the first agreement for scientific-technological cooperation between Israel and Ecuador.
The agreement “strengthens the scientific and technological collaboration” between the countries and provides a new framework for the promotion and support of scientific and technological ideas and research between the two governments.
The agreement will also encourage collaboration between scientific research institutions and institutions of higher learning of the two countries, the implementation of joint scientific and technological programs and projects, the exchange of scientists and students and the creation of scientific research projects of interest to the two countries.
MFA Deputy Director General Yael Rabia-Tzadok noted that the Innovation Center in Jerusalem “represents a leap forward in the connection between the Israeli and Ecuadorian ecosystems.”
During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two countries for economic cooperation, paving the way for upgrading business relationships, connecting entrepreneurs, opportunities, and investments while strengthening the economic dimension of good relations between countries.