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Uriel Lynn(L), President of the Federation of the Israeli Chambers of Commerce and the Tel Aviv and Central Israel Chamber of Commerce speaks with Xinhua during an interview in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 14, 2018. The upcoming China International Import Expo (CIIE) is expected to create more cooperation opportunities for the Israeli business sector, said Uriel Lynn, an Israeli commerce official. (Xinhua/Guo Yu)

by Chen Wenxian, Nick Kolyohin

JERUSALEM, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China International Import Expo (CIIE) is expected to create more cooperation opportunities for the Israeli business sector, said Uriel Lynn, an Israeli commerce official.

Israel is eagerly looking for increasing trade and cooperation with China, said Lynn, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

The first CIIE will be held on Nov. 5-10 in Shanghai, a world famous financial hub and one of the most populous cities in China.

"I appreciate it very much," said Lynn, adding that this is a significant platform for Israel and even the whole world to understand and access the Chinese market.

He believes the expo can "open new doors" to the Israeli companies for further business cooperation.

"We make our members more aware of China's import expo so they will have a chance to participate in this exhibition. We are encouraging Israeli companies to participate in this expo and next ones in the coming years," he said.

The Israeli government will have a country pavilion at the CIIE to showcase Israeli innovation and good bilateral relations between China and Israel.

"We have a unique, constantly-developed relationship with China. There is a very positive attitude on both sides. We appreciate the commercial relations with China, and we want to intensify them," Lynn said.

He believes that free trade agreement with China will increase import of Chinese products to Israel, which will help reduce the living cost in the Jewish state.

China is now Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third largest in the world. In the first half of 2018, the bilateral trade grew by 21.6 percent, which is five times faster than the global average.

Israel is also attracting more and more Chinese investments, which have increased to 7 billion U.S. dollars.

Israel is known for its innovative start-ups and cutting-edge technologies in many fields. "We are great at the treatment of water, agriculture, cyber, telecommunications, internet, software, and all those highly sophisticated areas," said Lynn.

Lynn is deeply impressed by the efforts done by Chinese companies to invest in building infrastructure projects in Israel.

He wishes China and Israel will enhance cooperation in different kinds of fields and more talented Israeli workers could join Chinese global companies.

Both China and Israel could gain benefits as the bilateral cooperation is strengthened, Lynn added.