Minister Pyne at the Team Defence Australia address at DSA 2018. Photo: defenceconnect.com.au

Minister Pyne said Australia and Israel could learn a great deal from each other on how to enhance defence capability through developing respective defence industry and innovation sectors.

“The joint working group was established under a memorandum of understanding signed by the Prime Minister in October 2017,” Minister Pyne said.

“The new working group will strengthen ties between the Australian Department of Defence and the Israeli Ministry of Defence.

“Australia and Israel are embracing defence innovation and this working group will provide a forum to discuss industry and innovation issues, assist in identifying export opportunities, and support our industries to cooperate in the development of innovative technologies for shared capability challenges.

“I look forward to seeing the outcomes from this first joint working group meeting, and the future cooperation between our defence industries.”

The Australian Government is investing more than $1.6 billion over the decade to build the innovation capabilities of Australian industry, universities and research institutions and to deliver solutions for Defence capability.

As part of the visit to Israel, Minister Pyne will also meet with senior representatives of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and defence industry.