Israel keen on Alberta’s energy savvy
Resource sector in Jewish state is expanding
Middle East politics often dominate Canada’s relationship with Israel, but the country’s ambassador said Thursday she is hoping to promote more collaboration in areas such as research and trade.
Ambassador Miriam Ziv said Israel has an emerging natural gas industry that can use regulatory advice and expertise from Alberta’s energy sector.
“We need to learn,” she said during a meeting with the Herald editorial board. Israel currently draws about 40 per cent of its energy through offshore gas and relies heavily on coal imported from South Africa, Ziv said.
“We would like to switch to gas for environmental reasons,” she said.
Partners in Nova Scotia have offered expertise in exploiting offshore supplies, while Ziv said she has consulted Energy Resources Conservation Board regarding regulations.
Israel expects the current gas field responsible for most of its current supply to run out soon, but has two more expected to come online next year and in 2014.
Development of the new gas fields, along with the anticipated discovery of oil, are signs Israel’s resource sector is growing, Ziv said.
“We would love to see Canadian investment in Israel,” she said.
Israel may not be able to duplicate the historic relationship between Canada and the U.S. or offer a market of 1.3 billion people like China, but Ziv said her country has an entrepreneurial spirit Canada could benefit from.
“It’s a young country that has done so much,” Ziv told the editorial board. “We’re not an obvious partner.” And yet there are many opportunities for collaboration between the two countries, Ziv added.
An agreement inked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, is offering funding for projects in water management, renewable energy and brain research.
“We are very good with water management because of the scarcity (in Israel),” Ziv said. “This is somewhere we could exchange and share with Canadians.”
Some of those topics were on the agenda earlier this week, when Ziv paid an informal visit to the University of Calgary and its president, Elizabeth Cannon.
“It was a chance for us to promote our research strategy,” university spokeswoman Sarah McGinnis said.