The Ireland-Israel commercial relationship dates back to the foundation of the State of Israel. In terms of bilateral trade, growth has been steadily increasing as the two economies have developed.
In 1988 Israel exports to Ireland were valued at 23.5 million USD, while Irish exports to Israel were valued at 32.8 million USD. A decade later, Israeli exports to Ireland amounted to 196 million USD, while Irish exports amount to 230 Million USD. Today Irish exports are 344 million and Israeli exports are approaching 200 million USD.
The bulk of Israel's exports to Ireland are mainly in the category of machinery and electronics, rubber and plastics, chemicals, textiles and optical/medical and related equipment. Other exports include gems and fruit and vegetables.
Irish exports to Israel are similar and seem to reflect the overall trade relationship in higher value goods. Irish exports are mainly in the sectors of machinery and electronics, chemicals, textiles and/or related articles, foodstuffs & beverages and optical/medical and related equipment.
While Ireland and Israel are considered to be high-tech economies, the policies, and path to achieving their respective successes are quite different. Many bilateral visits by officials from Ireland and Israel have taken place in order to study aspects of economic policy and growth in the counterpart's country. These visits often involved Ministers, officials across a broad spectrum of ministries, Chief scientists, academics and business / related journalists. Several trade delegations were also organized.
Broadly speaking - the key to Ireland's economic success is not one factor but a combination of many, (some of which are often overlooked) such as; long term planning in the area of education, growing and young workforce, the ability to attract and retain foreign investment and a low corporate tax regime. Other factors include Ireland's stability, geographical location (particularly in relation to the US), and the fact that Ireland is an English speaking country and is in a favorable time zone vis-à-vis the USA.
Certain economic agreements support Israel's trade relationship with Ireland - primarily the Free Trade Agreement between Israel and the EU (and USA) and a bilateral agreement on Double taxation was concluded in 1995 between the two states, which further facilitated the economic affairs between the countries. As the level of tourism grew an air transport agreement was drafted. The agreement has yet to be signed due to commercial considerations of certain carriers.
Another agreement that exists between the countries and which reflects another element of their hi-tech focus is the 1999 Memorandum of Understanding on Industrial Research and Development Cooperation. This agreement was borne out of the belief that Israel and Ireland, two countries that effectively moved from agricultural bases to become hi-tech economies - could benefit from collaboration. While some took the view that Israel and Ireland were competitors, primarily due to their respective endeavors to attract foreign high-tech companies - such as Intel and IBM, others took the view that there was much to be gained from collaboration and joint ventures. Indeed it is true to say that as opposed to simply exporting to each others relatively small populations, both countries have similar and much larger export markets.
The view that Ireland and Israel should collaborate and excel in at their respective strengths (it is usually suggested that Israel excels in R&D and Ireland in marketing and market penetration) was reinforced by the fact that there was activity between Irish and Israeli partners under the EU framework and other programs.
Tourism between Ireland and Israel is an area that has been relatively stable over the years but which has also seen dramatic fluctuations. In fact according to Ha'aretz newspaper, Ireland was the most popular destination for Israeli holidaymakers in 2000. In 2004, a peak number of Irish nationals visited Israel to attend the Ireland-Israel World cup qualifying match. While there is room to grow the level of bilateral tourism, there are seasonal direct flights between the two countries.
There are also increasing numbers of Israeli nationals coming to Ireland to work in hitch as well as Irish companies working in Israel.
A number of Israeli companies have established themselves in Ireland (in the fields of Software & Communications and Medical devices) in recent years and some Irish companies have also set up in Israel (in the fields of Pharma and software). In addition, there has been some investment by Irish companies in Israeli companies and vice versa - these have been mainly in the construction and hospitality sectors.