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THE ECONOMY
Following publication of statistics for the first half of 2002, the Manufacturers Association of Israel announced this week that the widespread layoffs in Israel's software industry had come to a halt. This trend stopped in April and the number of employees in the industry has stabilized at around 13,500. Software exported in the second half of the year totaled $1.34 billion: 33% of the exports were to the US, 37% to Europe, and the balance to other countries. This is a tremendous achievement, noted the Manufacturers Association announcement, considering the difficult conditions in the world hi-tech market.
The American company Star-Core, which manufactures digital signal processing (DSP) equipment, has moved its development headquarters to Israel, in the industrial zone near Tel Aviv. The company decided to set up its new headquarters - which already began to operate this week - in Israel, after closing its development headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. Star-Core was started by some of the world's largest chip manufacturers including Motorola and Agere, and is jointly owned by them. The CEO of the American company, Tom Lynch, said this week that Austin and Tel Aviv have the world's best pools of brainpower in the fields of software and semi-conductor - making them excellent environments for business.
An Israeli company won a US Department of Agriculture tender to supervise the import of organic agricultural products into the US. The deal totals millions of dollars annually. The Israeli company, Agrior, is responsible for quality control of products that are marketed in Israel, as well as those designed for export. The company applied in the tender following a new law in the US, which will take effect on October 21, 2002, making the import of organic agricultural products into the US contingent upon authorization by a recognized supervisory body. Once it receives its official credentials, Agrior will begin to operate in dozens countries that wish to export agricultural products to the US and will recruit many new workers for this purpose. Israeli group builds housing and office buildings in Eastern Europe for 150 million euro The Israeli real estate group CEE will build dozens of real estate projects in Eastern Europe at an investment of 150 million euro. The group will work in collaboration with the Austrian company Strabag, one of the largest construction and development companies in Europe. The projects include thousands of housing units in seven projects in Budapest and Warsaw; two office projects in Budapest; and office projects in Belgrade. The cornerstone for one of the Budapest projects was laid last week. A senior official at Strabag said that there is a tremendous demand for the apartments, because no residential units were built in Budapest in recent years, which caused a rise in prices. Already last week, many Hungarians bought apartments that are still on paper.
The enormous wave of Israeli exports to India is continuing. While Israel's aeronautical industry will provide the Indian army with tens of millions of dollars worth of advanced systems - including cockpit , night vision, electronic warfare, and various weapons systems - for its up-to-date ALH (Advanced Light Helicopters) helicopters - the Israeli company EL-OP has already begun to provide India with 1022 portable radars as part of a $70 million deal. The radars, which are capable of identifying human movement from a distance of up to 6 miles, have already been positioned on the embattled Pakistan-India border in Kashmir. The Indian army reported great success in identifying infiltrators along the Kashmiri border.
Israel companies Rosebud and Africa Israel Investments have completed the joint acquisition of apartment houses in the United States for rental in a $182 million deal. The Israeli companies, in collaboration with American investors, acquired thousands of housing units for rental in 13 neighborhoods in Dallas and San Antonio. They are located in residential neighborhoods near offices and factories.
The Israeli pharmaceuticals company Biotechnology this week completed the purchase of the British pharmaceuticals company Rosemont for $94 million. Rosemont's rate of growth in recent years has reportedly been 15% annually. The company finished the second half of 2002 with income of $11.3 million and 2001 with income of $20.3 million.
Two weeks of business meetings between Israelis and representatives from Italy, Germany, China, and South Korea began this week. Two days ago a delegation of 13 Israel companies from the fields of medical instrumentation and information technology left for China to advance collaboration in R&D. Business delegations from Italy, Germany, and South Korea will arrive in Israel within the next few days. Representatives of 20 companies in the environmental technologies from Italy will meet with representatives of Israeli companies and institutions. The Minister-President of Lower Saxony Sigmar Gabriel will come from Germany together with a delegation of businesspeople in the fields of banking, communications, and tourism. And from South Korea, the Minister of Trade is coming.
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