15:00 Ian Paisley (in the Chair)

As we move to deliver on our net zero commitments, I call on my hon. Friend the Minister to work closely with Israel. The country has been known as the superpower of sustainability. While we will not be able to recreate here the solar tower that harnesses Negev sunshine to generate electricity, we can certainly learn much from Israel’s world-leading water reuse programme to avoid future droughts. The UK and Israel boast sector-leading green-tech and agri-tech start-ups, and there are many opportunities to expand on that.

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15:36 Dr Matthew Offord (Hendon) (Con)

Given the scientific and engineering excellence of our two countries, I repeat the calls for the Minister to explore establishing bilateral centres and incubators to enable British and Israeli companies and scientists to come together and tackle the great challenges of the day. One of those issues may be covid, which we are now passing by, but there are many more that we can work on. A trade deal will enable us to work jointly to tackle climate change, strengthen cyber-security against some of the malign actors that have been mentioned—mainly Iran—and produce the next generation of med-tech, which my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Damien Moore) mentioned, to keep us all healthier and improve our wellbeing. All that would come of a good trade deal.

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