Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel, signed an MOU in Berlin on January 18, 2010, regarding development cooperation with emphasis on water and agriculture.

Following the cooperation agreement signed between the two parties in March 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs through MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will join forces to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by enhancing cooperation in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia with particular emphasis on water management, agricultural development and public health. 

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Chief Medical Officer Col. Dr. Ariel Bar, and Lt. Col. Dr. Haim Levon at work in the Israeli field hospital in Haiti (Photography: IDF Spokesperson)

Following the devastating earthquake which hit Haiti, an emergency Israeli delegation comprised of medical and search and rescue personnel arrived in Port-Au-Prince on January 15th and set up a field hospital in a soccer field near the airport.

The field hospital includes 40 doctors, 25 nurses, paramedics, a pharmacy, a children's ward, a radiology department, an intensive care unit, an emergency room, two operating rooms, a surgical department, an internal department and a maternity ward. The hospital can treat approximately 500 patients each day, and in addition will perform preliminary surgeries.

A second delegation left for Haiti on January 18th. The delegation will deliver relief reinforcements including medicines and additional equipment.

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Deputy FM Ayalon

Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon opened a Seminar on “Israel’s Preparations for Climate Change” which took place at the Foreign Ministry.

The Seminar was organized by MASHAV – Israel's National Agency for International Cooperation – and the Training Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

In his opening address, Ayalon said that “Preserving the wonderful resources of the planet is an existential value for us, with moral, economic and political importance. We live in an environment of deficiency, especially in Israel, which has a shortage of water, and accordingly we must treat the subject with the appropriate seriousness.”

MASHAV, Israel's National Agency for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with NATO and the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa held in November 2009 an advanced course on “The best ways of training for mass-casualty situations”. This is the first time MASHAV and NATO have cooperated on a project.

The workshop, was designed for doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and first-responder organizations that deal with treating the injured in mass-casualty events. Professionals from NATO member states in Europe as well as FSU and Mediterranean states attended.

An International Workshop on Mobilizing Diaspora Civil Society For International Development took place in November 2009 at the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCTC) in Haifa, in cooperation with MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IOM the International Organization for Migration, CIMI, the Center for International Migration and Integration and GTZ, GMBH, Duetsche Gesellschaft Fur Technische Zumsammenarbeit.

Mme Ndiore Ndiaye, Former IOM Deputy Director-General and currently President of Alliance for Migration, Leadership and Development, opened the event with a Keynote Lecture on "Empowering Diaspora Women's Associations to Manage their Structures".

The workshop participants included 32 professionals from 12 countries representing 23 countries of origin who are active in projects to facilitate the socio-economic development of their origin countries, as well as the integration of their peers in their destination countries.

About 50 participants – including women at the highest levels from about 30 countries around the world – among them government ministers, members of parliament, and holders of senior positions in civil society and academia arrived for the 26th biennial International Women's Leadership Conference held at the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCTC) on 8-12 November 2009. Participants at the conference include experts from around the world, researchers in socio-economic fields, and representatives of UN agencies and various international and regional organizations. 

This year's international conference is devoted to The Global Financial Crisis – Implications for Women.  It is hosted in cooperation with Ms. Rachel Mayanja, the UN Assistant Secretary General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), and under the auspices of MASHAV – Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The official opening ceremony took place at MCTC in the presence of Ms. Gila Gamliel, Israel's Deputy Minister for the Advancement of Women; Ms. Rachel Mayanja; and Ambassador Haim Divon, Head of MASHAV. The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, UN Assistant Secretary General on Economic Development, Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). The Conference culminated in the drafting of the Haifa Declaration.

Read The Haifa Declaration

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Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice-President for Africa and Ambassador Haim Divon, Head of MASHAV

Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili, the World Bank Vice-President for Africa, met in October 2009, with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon to examine ways for future cooperation between the World Bank and MASHAV. Later on, Ms. Ezekwesili participated in a working meeting with MASHAV’s development experts.

In her address, Ms. Ezekwesili expressed her belief about the need to expand the frontiers of partnership for development. She stated the need to team-up and to establish multilateral partnerships to better address critical development issues in the African continent, and conveyed the World Bank’s keen interest in furthering cooperation with MASHAV. Ambassador Haim Divon, Head of MASHAV, together with development experts presented three models for possible cooperation between the two organizations. Both parties decided to meet again to examine concrete plans.

Ms. Ezekwesili, a Nigerian national served as her country’s Minister of Education before being appointed Vice President for the Africa Region in 2007. She oversees more than 1500 staff and is responsible for the delivery of projects and economic and sectoral work in 47 Sub-Saharan countries. In fiscal year 2008, $5.7 billion was committed in new project lending and technical assistance to Africa, in addition to more than 100 analytical studies.