Israeli and Ghanaian security companies are fostering mutual understanding to explore avenues for collaboration in ensuring the safety and security of their respective nations.
It is also to bolster the country’s defence cooperation with Israel to address the changing nature of threats in the sub-region.
Mr. Yaniv Tessel, the Head of Israeli Economic Trade Mission to Ghana, speaking at the maiden Homeland Security Business Seminar in Accra, said it was no longer news that the world faced so many security threats and challenges.
The Seminar organised by the Israeli Economic Trade Mission in partnership with the Israeli Export Institute and the Ghana-Israel Business Chamber aimed at enhancing Ghana’s partnership with the State of Israel in the Homeland Security Sector.
The event was on the theme: “Exploring Innovative Homeland Security Solutions from Israel.”
It formed part of a delegation of eight Israeli Homeland Security Companies to Ghana to promote Israeli technologies that could enhance the country’s security infrastructure and provide high-end solutions for the border security, maritime security,
cybersecurity, illegal mining, and human trafficking.
He said Ghana was not an exception to this growing phenomenon, even though the security situation in Ghana was relatively calm there were several threats that the country faced.
He said in the two previous meetings the delegation had with the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Leadership, it was shared that these threats include border security, cybercrime, illegal mining, and clashes between local groups, human trafficking, arms smuggling and more.
Mr. Tessel said, “we are here to help in keeping Ghana as peaceful as it is and we are all aware of the current coup in Niger and its troubling effect in the Sahel region of Africa.”
He said even though they get to enjoy some daily peace and stability in Ghana, they could not exactly say that all was well in the sub-region given various reports of instability in most of Ghana’s neighbouring countries.
He said Israel had long been a pioneer in developing cutting-edge technologies and innovative strategies to counter emerging threats.
“Our nation’s experience, honed by decades of dealing with complex security challenges, has led to the development of capabilities that can be of immense value to Ghana,” he added.
He said Israel took a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to homeland security and their expertise encompassed areas such as border protection, cybersecurity, counterterrorism, emergency response and disaster management.
Mr. Tessel said these capabilities had been proven effective within and beyond their borders and in view of this, ‘I am happy that we have taken this leap forward in strengthening our relations in Homeland Security.”
Through this initiative, they have assembled eight leading Homeland Security companies to show their commitment to partnering with the relevant stakeholders.
He expressed the hope that the forum would foster meaningful partnerships, especially within the government sector to create a peaceful and prosperous environment for Ghanaians.
Mr. Edem Yevutsey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Israel Business Chamber, said the history of defence cooperation between Ghana and Israel provided a strong foundation for their efforts to engender partnerships.
He said over the years, Israel had worked with Ghana to enhance the capacity of its special forces, counterterrorism, and anti-money laundering units.
“Our defence cooperation agreements have seen the supply of military hardware and intelligence equipment to our forces,” he added.
He said the interconnected nature of the world today meant that insecurity in a part of the world could be insecurity in any other part of the world, no matter how far away.
He said it had always been suspected, for instance, that some of the major sources of insecurity in the Middle East have long financial tentacles that stretch all the way to West Africa.
“Therefore, cooperation, knowledge-sharing, expertise-sharing is important, not only from a business perspective, but also from a commonsense perspective,” he said.
Mr. Yevutsey said the Homeland Security delegation from Israel was but a small fraction of the hundreds of Israeli Homeland Security companies that were playing a major role in ensuring global peace and security.
Ms. Shai Efrat, Head of Delegation and Business Development Manager, Homeland Security and Aerospace Sector, said their mission was to support Israeli companies to scale up globally.
She said there were over 500 Israeli exporting companies in the Homeland Security arena and Israeli Homeland Security companies offered technologically advanced, field proven products and solutions that were among the most innovative anywhere.
The participating Israeli Companies include Ateros Systems, Gilat Satellite Networks, Magal Security Systems Ltd., MER Group, Realeye, RT LTA Systems Ltd, SeeTrue AI, Steadicopter.
