The Israeli Embassy in China on Tuesday offered some financial support and technical training to farmers in the Lixian Village of Daxing District, kicking off the Beijing-Israel Farming Cooperation Program between Israel and Daxing.

The program was unveiled with the support of the Beijing municipal government and Israeli Embassy in China.

A business consular official from the Israeli Embassy said they had helped to build two greenhouse sheds in Daxing, and installed some sprinkling and dripping devices in 20 greenhouse sheds set up by local residents. The sheds they helped build can save water and raise the output of agricultural products.

In addition, staff workers from the Israeli embassy have provided 25,000 high-quality seeds from Israel, and six sets of mobile milk collecting devices (that can do the collecting simultaneously) to Daxing people. The Israelis have also provided some medical equipment and hundreds of medical books for local clinics.

In education, the Israelis have helped set up a library for a local primary school and donated some 1,200 books. They have helped establish a playground and presented a set of sportswear for Daxing teachers and pupils. The sportswear is designed in blue and white strips standing for Israel country, and the red strip on the sleeve standing for China.

Dr. Yehoyada Haim, Israeli ambassador to China, said the cooperative program had taken half a year to launch. During this period, he had been to Daxing four times to keep himself posted on the latest development of the program.

Up to now, it is estimated that Israel has invested about one million yuan in the program. He added that it would be unrealistic to expect that the investment could yield results immediately. In future, the Israeli embassy in China will continue to keep in touch with Daxing County and launch more cooperation and aid programs there. The ambassador hoped that the program could serve as a model for cooperation between Israel and China, and contribute to the friendly relations between the two countries.

(China News Service May 18, 2006)