Russia wants Israel to become strategic nanotech partner

HAIFA, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia believes that Israel could become a strategic partner in developing nanotechnology projects, the general director of the Russian Rosnanotech state corporation said on Thursday.

"Israel is one of the global high-teach leaders, uniting a large number of inventers, innovative groups, working in the nanotechnology sphere," Leonid Melamed said during a visit to Israel.

The main goal of the visit, which includes trips to educational, scientific and technical centers and meetings with Israeli officials, is to identify investment projects for Russia.

"Considering that almost half of the people working in these laboratories speak Russian, Israel is clearly a strategic partner for us," Melamed added.

In 2007, the Russian government allocated 130 billion rubles (about $5.5 billion) to Rosnanotech, which is aiming to build infrastructure in Russia for nanotechnology projects providing the right research conditions.

Israeli companies are due to display their potential projects on Friday. One of the conditions set by Rosnanotech is that a part of any project should operate in Russia.