The City of Yuma and the Regional Council of Ramat HaNegev, Israel signed an official Memorandum of Understanding Wednesday to establish a partnership for agricultural collaboration, amongst other future points of interest.
Arizona's opening of the Arizona-Israel and Investment Office in Tel Aviv made the partnership possible.
Through a Zoom video conference between Yuma and Israel, Mayor Doug Nicholls and Ramat HaNegev Mayor Eran Doron signed the memorandum between the two desert regions.
The Mayor of Ramat HaNegrev called Mayor Nicholls "the most rapid American he ever worked with" in getting the partnership done.
"This began on Aug. 31 with a simple Zoom meeting. We like to work here a little bit faster than regular government," Mayor Nicholls said. "I think Mayor Doron and I share that desire, in getting things done, to make this happen."
The first area of cooperation is agriculture, Mayor Doron believes it can lead to food security enhancement in desert regions throughout the world.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio
"We can bring them the resources of life, water, and food," said Mayor Doron.
While agricultural cooperation is the first priority, both desert regions hope they can eventually include industrial technology development, collaboration in research and academia, joint economic ventures, and educational exchanges.