By Victoria Ojeme

El Al Israel Airlines, Israel’s national carrier, will commence direct flight operations from Israel into Nigerian cities of Lagos and Abuja starting this March.

This is part of plans to continue expanding trade relations and tourism business between Israel and Nigeria and also to increase El Al Israel Airline flights operations to West Africa.

The Deputy Director-General, African Department, Sharon Bar-Li, stated this while interacting with journalists at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tuesday in Jerusalem.

Sharon noted that the route, expected to be very busy, would serve not only Nigerians but some neighbours in West Africa and Israelis.

On whether Israel as a destination of world agricultural innovations has any plan to help Nigeria to attain food security essential in areas ravaged by desert encroachment, Sharon said her country has so much to offer banking of her long range of experience.

In another development, Bar-Li said the State of Israel was committed to helping Nigeria build its economy through technological innovations and manpower development.

She cited the establishment of the Israel Development Agency, MASHAV’s Innovative Hub (Innov-Hub) in Abuja for aspiring researchers as one area of intervention to developing countries in Africa.

She said the Innov-Hub is one of Israel’s sustainable development programmes in Africa that focus on entrepreneurship and innovation in different fields and sectors of the economy.

“This is to create cohorts of young entrepreneurs, and a network that can contribute to their economy, and their communities, with Israeli support.

“This is the direction we have been taking for several years in Africa, the MASHAV laboratory outside Abuja.

The deputy director general, Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Emmanuel Nachshon, said, unlike other countries in the world, the Israel model only helped countries to build their systems through partnership.

“What is unique about Israel is that we have no colonialist past, so it means we come with clean hands. These results are successful and they contribute to humanity,” he said.