China-Israel economic and trade cooperation

Boosting economic and trade cooperation is top of the agenda of Netanyahu's trip. China is Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third largest in the world. China is also an important destination of Israel's foreign investment.

That investment gets put into areas of high technology, new energy, environmental protection, agriculture and biological medicine. Bilateral trade volume has increased from less than 50 million US dollars over 20 years ago to 10 billion today.

Netanyahu is likely to discuss the possibility of a free trade agreement with China, encouraging China's banks and state-owned enterprises to invest in Israel.

At the same time, the deal hopes to increase the frequency of direct flights between the two countries, and China will be invited to participate in bidding for Israel's high-speed rail project.