TAGUIG CITY — The Philippines and Israel are expanding cooperation in technology, with Israeli firms seeking partnerships with Philippine companies in areas ranging from network management and cybersecurity to connectivity and aerospace software.

The push was highlighted during the Israel Mobile Delegation to the Philippines' business-to-business forum held Tuesday in Bonifacio Global City, where Israeli industry leaders met with local stakeholders to explore partnerships and advance digital connectivity and network resilience.

The forum, themed "Harnessing Innovation for Network Resilience," featured five Israeli companies: Amdocs, Cato Networks, Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., Spacecom and Symmetrium.

The initiative aims to connect Filipino and Israeli firms based on market demand while providing a framework to strengthen business cooperation between the two countries.

“We see a great interest from the Philippine system in Israel, which emerges in many fields,” said Ofek Venecianer, economic counselor at the Israeli Embassy.

“It's not just coming from Israel. It's going from agriculture, cybersecurity to mobile. This event is specifically for mobile. [I] can say that the Philippine companies understand the unique value of the Israeli companies. It's very advanced,” she added.

Venecianer said Israeli companies view the Philippines as a promising market for expansion.

“Since Israel is a small country, all the Israeli companies know that they need to scale up,” she said.

“When you look for countries where they can scale up, the Philippines is definitely a good fit for the Israeli market. Israeli companies are very much looking forward to it.”

Resiliency

A key focus of the forum was network resilience, an area where Israel sees opportunities to contribute to the Philippine telecommunications sector.

“In the end of the day, resiliency is like a state of mind,” Venecianer said. “It can be a different strategy, tackle different challenges.”

She said Israel's experience in emergency response and critical infrastructure management could help strengthen the resilience of the Philippines' mobile ecosystem, adding that cybersecurity remains one of Israel's leading sectors.

Matching the need

Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Dana Kursh said future cooperation will be guided by the specific needs of the Philippines.

“When it comes to the sectors, at the end of the day, it's just matching the need,” she said.

“And the need when it comes to resiliency, especially at this time of the year, it's crucial.”

Kursh said opportunities for collaboration exist across agriculture, health, education, cybersecurity and other sectors, with innovation and technology serving as key enablers.

“President Marcos himself is very loud and clear in his prioritizing generally—he says two words. It's innovation and technology. We have to weave innovation and technology to each one of those sectors in order to flourish,” she said.

In May, the Department of Trade and Industry and Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry discussed expanding bilateral trade and technology cooperation under the U.S.-led Pax Silica Initiative, with a focus on minerals and semiconductors, while also exploring a possible free trade agreement.