“The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19,” he added.
This came a day after the UK, France and Canadato take “concrete actions” against Israel if it does not stop its renewed offensive and lift aid restrictions in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the European Union has also taken a step towards reassessing its relationship with Israel with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirming on Tuesday that the bloc had voted to review its trade cooperation agreement.How much is Israel-UK trade worth?The United Kingdom and Israel embarked on negotiations for a modernised Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in July 2022, aiming to enhance their economic partnership by addressing areas not covered in their existing trade agreement, particularly services and digital trade.
According to United Nations, a global database of official international trade statistics, in 2024, the UK ranked as Israel’s 11th largest import partner, with imports totalling some $1.96bn. The main products imported from the UK included machinery such as jet engines, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals and vehicles.
Conversely, the UK was Israel’s eighth largest export destination, receiving Israeli exports valued at about $1.57bn, primarily of diamonds, chemical products, machinery and electronics.
What are Israel’s biggest imports and exports?The Justice Department contends that AI technology by itself will not rein in Google’s power, arguing additional legal restraints must be slapped on a search engine that’s the main reason its parent company, Alphabet Inc, is valued at $2 trillion.
Mehta indicated in court Friday that he was still undecided on how much AI’s potential to shake up the search market should be incorporated in his forthcoming ruling. “This is what I’ve been struggling with,” Mehta said early in the hearing.Justice prosecutor David Dahlquist urged the judge to issue forward-thinking remedies that would “pry open” the search market to competition and not allow Google to use its search monopoly to unfairly benefit itself in the AI race.
Google has already been deploying AI to transform its search engine into an answer engine, an effort that has so far helped maintain its perch as the internet’s main gateway despite inroads being made by alternatives from the likes of OpenAI and Perplexity.The Justice Department contends a divestiture of the Chrome browser that Google CEO Sundar Pichai helped build nearly 20 years ago would be among the most effective countermeasures against Google continuing to amass massive volumes of browser traffic and personal data that could be leveraged to retain its dominance in the AI era.