Israeli Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter signed a memorandum of understanding this weekend in Romania to strengthen Israel's food security. The agreement was signed before the president of the Romanian Emergency Management Authority. Other agricultural cooperations were also promoted and strengthened. Israel and Romania have maintained good trade and cooperation relations in the field of agriculture for many years and this agreement is a direct continuation of the other three agreements signed with Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Morocco, and its purpose is to expand the variety of sources of emergency wheat import for Israel.

According to Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter: "As part of the vision we lead at the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure food security in routine and emergency situations, this memorandum of understanding, which adds to its predecessors, constitutes another anchor for guarantee agricultural production of wheat, most of which is not grown in Israel. In this period of global uncertainty and serious geopolitical conflicts in our region, this agreement, born of common interests, will allow Israel an additional import channel, especially. in times of emergency. The Ministry of Agriculture, under my leadership, will continue to seek and create additional channels of partnership between the State of Israel and other countries."

The signing of the memorandum of understanding with Romania, which is located in Eastern Europe, opens another important point of origin for Israel to import wheat from Europe during an emergency. It should be noted that the three previous agreements were made with other countries, with which Israel maintains good diplomatic relations.

As you may recall, due to clashes between Russia and Ukraine, a serious crisis in global wheat supply emerged in 2022, leading to an increase in raw material prices and global barriers to imports. During this period, the Ministry of Agriculture had to find alternative sources of wheat import in a short time.

As part of a strategy that Israel should not rely on limited import sources, professionals at the Ministry of Agriculture initiated the "Treat The Wheat" project: an outline to strengthen Israel's food reserves in the long term, with emphasis on wheat stocks. The Ministry of Agriculture explains that it is a national duty to promote solutions and increase sources of imports, especially in the context of climate change. In this way, Israel will ensure that national food security is less affected by climate and war crises in our regions and in the world, as well as by global epidemics such as the corona virus or climate phenomena such as fires and floods.

During his stay, the Minister of Agriculture also met with his counterpart, the Romanian Minister of Agriculture, Parlorin Barbeau, with the President of the Romanian Emergency Management Agency; with the President of the Jewish Community, Silvio Wexler; and with the president of the Israel-Romania Chamber of Commerce, Kalin; and with the professional and political ranks of the two countries, to examine the actual implementation of the project and discuss possible ways of working and additional collaborations that can be established between the countries.