Direct flight from Ufa to Tel Aviv will be opened: Radiy Khabirov at meeting with Israeli Ambassador

The need to open a direct flight from Ufa to Tel Aviv was discussed at the Head of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to the Russian Federation Alexander Ben Zvi on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

According to Radiy Khabirov, the opening of direct flights would help to increase the investment and tourist attractiveness of the territory, and our republic is ready even to subsidize it at first from the budget. The plans to launch the flight were announced back in 2019, but the coronavirus pandemic hampered their implementation.

First of all, opening a flight between Ufa and Tel Aviv will promote closer contacts between the business community. The republic is interested in Israel's experience in the construction sector, the creation of IT parks.

The republic began to evolve relationships with the Horev Medical Center. The first group of doctors from Bashkortostan has already attended an internship in Israel as part of the program "Horev Without Borders". Several children from the republic with complex diagnoses were examined and received treatment in the same clinic.

Radiy Khabirov noted that this became possible due to the cooperation of the republic with the Dr. Barak clinic. Recall that in October 2019, the 1st Russian-Israeli Medical Forum was held in Ufa with the participation of the largest specialists of the two countries.

Radiy Khabirov invited the Ambassador of Israel to the VI World Folkloriada, which would be held in Ufa from 3 to 10 July. The "Halleluya" dance group will present Israel at the Folkloriada.

The Head of the Region said that currently, the Jewish community of Bashkortostan was not numerous but very active. This is the great merit of the chief rabbi of Ufa and the republic, Dan Krichevsky.

The Ufa Jewish Center with a synagogue is one of the largest national Jewish complexes in Russia and Europe. The building also houses the Ohr Avner school, which has all the conditions for the full children development of all nationalities living in the republic. Dan Krichevsky initiated a project to create a parental home - a boarding house for the elderly.

The Israeli Ambassador thanked the Head of Bashkortostan for the invitation to visit Ufa and take part in the opening of the World Folkloriada. According to him, Bashkortostan and Israel have great potential for increasing scientific and technical, interuniversity, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, as well as tourism development.

Bashkortostan's trade with Israel has been steadily growing in recent years, and over the past ten years has reached its maximum in 2020 - $ 13.1 million, an increase of 3.3 times compared to 2019. The growth in foreign trade between the parties is due to large fuel oil supplies to Israel, which has not been exported for many years.

Israel ranks 38th in the foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Belarus among 122 trading partner countries with a share of 0.3%. There are five enterprises with the participation of Israeli capital in the republic's territory, operating in the field of trade, consulting, production of petroleum products, rental and leasing of devices, apparatus, and other equipment used for medical purposes, cleaning of residential buildings and non-residential premises.