Italy and Israel "have shared values, ideas and aspirations over centuries," deputy foreign minister Emanuela Del Re said on Tuesday - the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
“Seventy years of relations means a long common history of our two countries and governments," Del Re told the 'Celebrating 70 years of Diplomatic Relations. Italy and Israel Side-By-Side for Innovation' seminar held in Rome.
"And it is nonetheless a fraction of the time of a much longer relationship between our peoples, which have shared values, ideas and aspirations over centuries," Del Re said.
Tuesday's seminar looked at the most successful projects developed under an industrial, scientific and technological cooperation accord that was signed between Italy and Israel in 2002, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The 2002 accord is a key tool in developing technological innovation and cooperation between the two countries in the field of industrial research and development. So far it has financed over 200 bilateral projects and created new opportunities for innovative Italian start-ups and small-to-medium-sized enterprises, the statement noted
At the opening of the seminar, Del Re and foreign undersecretary Lucia Azzolina, conferred the 2019 Rita Levi-Montalcini Award 2019 on Eytan Domany, from the Weizmann Institute of Tel Aviv.
After accepting the award, Domany, an expert in computational systems biology, and his Italian colleague Caterina La Porta from the University of Milan, gave a special lecture entitled 'Big Data and Tumours'.
Several successful bilateral science and technology projects were presented at the seminar covering three priority sectors: energy/environment, cooperation in the aerospace sector, industrial projects and joint laboratories, said the statement.
Two parallel seminars were organised in Tel Aviv by the Israeli science and technology ministry in partnership with the Israeli-Italian chamber of commerce: 'Particle accelerator-development and uses in medical applications, industry, science and the environment' and “Mediterranean climate: changes and challenges', the statement said.
The Rita Levi-Montalcini Binational Award for Scientific Cooperation was established in 2015 under the 2002 industrial, scientific and technological cooperation accord between Italy and Israel.
The award aims to promote exchanges between eminent scholars of the two countries.
