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The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry (ECAJ), the elected peak rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, situated at the apex of more than 200 Jewish organ­isa­tions across Australia, has warmly welcomed the Aus­trali­an government’s announce­ment that Australia and Israel have signed a new tax treaty which will open further oppor­tun­it­ies for bilateral trade and invest­ment.

In September 2015, the two countries first announced their intention to conclude an agreement aimed at elim­in­at­ing or reducing the incidence of double taxation between the two jur­is­dic­tions, providing greater tax certainty for busi­nesses and enhancing the integrity of both countries’ tax systems. Formal nego­ti­ations commenced 12 months later, and have now come to fruition.

A thriving trade and commerce deepens the bond between nations and peoples. The har­mon­isa­tion of taxation arrange­ments is an important step towards even greater economic cooper­a­tion between Australia and Israel, and will enhance the close and warm ties that already exist.

Israeli tech­no­logy and innov­a­tion across a range of vital indus­tries including health­care and renewable energy already con­trib­ute immensely to our quality of life in Australia. We expect that this agreement, once imple­men­ted, will enhance this con­tri­bu­tion further and will also ensure that Aus­trali­an busi­nesses are able to fully exploit the enormous oppor­tun­it­ies in the Israeli market.

There are oppor­tun­it­ies for Aus­trali­an companies to take greater advantage of Israel’s knowledge-based economy – par­tic­u­larly in the areas of bio­tech­no­logy, ICT, education and training. The new Tax Treaty will also serve as an incentive for Israeli companies to view Australia as a regional base and as a supplier of soph­ist­ic­ated goods and services. This will be good for creating jobs and stim­u­lat­ing economic growth in both countries.

We commend the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment for this ini­ti­at­ive and con­grat­u­late all those who were involved in the process on the success of the nego­ti­ations.

Contact
Peter Wertheim AM | co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au