JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked the Great Wall of China at the end of a state visit to China.
During the visit, which ended Wednesday, the University of Haifa signed an agreement with the Hangzhou Wahaha Group, a Chinese conglomerate, and the Institute of Automation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences that will establish three joint artificial intelligence technology centers constructed in Haifa, Israel, Hangzhou, China and Beijing, and an initial investment of $10 million.
Chinese billionaire Zong Qinghou, the CEO of the Hangzhou Wahaha Group, will finance the Institutes for Artificial Intelligence Technology Centers.
Netanyahu was present for the signing of the agreement.
Several cooperative agreements between Israel and China also were signed during the visit in areas such as emergency medicine, science, education, intellectual property and environment.
Netanyahu thanked China for its friendship and praised the country in a meeting with President Xi Jinping.
“We admire China’s capabilities, its position on the world stage and in history. We have always believed, as we discussed on my previous visit, that Israel can be a partner, a junior partner, but a perfect partner for China in the development of a variety of technologies that change the way we live, how long we live, how healthy we live, the water we drink, the food we eat, the milk that we drink – in every area,” Netanyahu said.
During the visit, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, laid a wreath at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square.
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