Scientific and technological cooperation mission between Argentina and Israel in the field of water management

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of the Interior, headed by Wado de Pedro, together with the Embassy of Israel in Argentina, headed by Galit Ronen, and the Federal Investment Council (CFI), will carry out a technical mission of scientific and technological cooperation in water management, together with 8 governors and representatives of 2 other Argentine provinces, between April 22 and 28, which will include visits to desalination, irrigation and smart metering plants in different parts of Israel, as well as scheduled meetings between the Argentine delegation and Israeli officials.

The mission, which will be one of the most important in the history of cooperation and exchange relations between the two countries, will also be attended by two other national ministers together with the Minister of the Interior: the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Julián Domínguez; and the Minister of Science and Technology, Daniel Filmus, together with the head of the CFI, Ignacio Lamothe.

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The exchange project began to take shape as a result of meetings between the Minister of the Interior and the ambassador to the country, Galit Ronen, who spoke on several occasions about Israel’s experience in water management, irrigation projects and technology, as well as the possibility of using this experience to boost the country’s production.

At the same time, as a result of the dialogue between Minister Wado de Pedro and the governors to advance in a federal development plan, this initiative for 2022 was agreed with the CFI and provincial governors, taking into account that Israel, for more than 70 years, has been at the forefront of water technology, developing some of the most powerful solutions in the world.

That experience in desert or water-scarce areas presents similar particularities to many regions of Argentina. The possibility of incorporating this type of development in the use and administration of water will allow the expansion of crop areas and the strengthening of existing ones in areas with scarce water resources.

In this respect, Wado de Pedro said that the mission “will be very important for the productive development of many areas of our country, which have a very good soil, very fertile, but which need to continue applying more technology, more knowledge and investing in irrigation, looking for innovative solutions”. And he added: “to invest in technology is to make Argentina the country we all dream of”.

On the other hand, he pointed out that “the countryside, in terms of international exchange, is the most competitive sector of our economy. The State must accompany its industrialization and technological improvement process. That is what this mission is all about”.

On her part, Ambassador Galit Ronen said: “This historic visit expresses the clear will of both countries to continue consolidating their cooperation ties in strategic areas, such as water management”.

She also stressed that “Israel is a country whose territory has a high percentage of desert areas”, so “it has developed throughout its history innovative mechanisms and high technological development in order to make up for the lack of water resources”.

“We have great expectations that at the moment of sharing the problems and challenges presented by each of the different provinces, we will be able to enrich ourselves with the Argentine experiences. Countries improve their possibilities of genuine exchange by cooperating and sharing knowledge. Environmental challenges are part of a global agenda whose only solution is defined by cooperation”, concluded Galit Ronen.

The participation of the provinces will represent virtually all the regions of the country, and will include the governors Raul Jalil, from Catamarca; Gustavo Bordet, from Entre Ríos; Gildo Insfran, from Formosa; Ricardo Quintela, from La Rioja; Rodolfo Suarez, from Mendoza; Arabela Carreras, from Rio Negro; Sergio Uñac, from San Juan; and Alicia Kirchner from Santa Cruz. Ministers representing the provinces of Santiago del Estero and La Pampa were also present.

VISITS AND ACTIVITIES

Meetings with Israeli officials:

• Visit to the “Granot” Desalination Plant in Mekorot. This plant is part of a large project aimed at preserving the aquifer of the Mediterranean coast, through the extraction of accumulated salts, with a capacity to desalinate 40 thousand cubic meters per day.
• Visit to Mekorot’s “Eshkol” plant. The central filtration plant at the Eshkol site, the only one of its kind in Israel and the fourth largest in the world. This facility filters water from Lake Kineret (Sea of Galilee) on a daily basis.
• Visit to the “Menashe” Project. Channels to capture flood water from four rivers, which is then injected into the aquifer for agriculture. It is 50 years old and is still in operation today.
• Visit to Netafim, Kibbutz Magal. Leading company in irrigation, fertigation and smart greenhouses.
• Visit to a water supply reservoir for Agriculture (South of the country). The objective is to observe the entire process from the treatment and desalination plants to the use of water in production.
• Visit to Yad Vashem (Jerusalem). It is the official Israeli institution constituted in memory of the victims of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews during the Second World War. It is the main Holocaust Museum in the world.
• Visit to the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation (Tel Aviv-Jaffa) and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot).