advertisement

Quinn to visit factories on Israel trip

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will head to Israel next week on an education mission paid for by the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, his office said Thursday.

Quinn leaves Monday and will spend about a week in the country, a close U.S. ally that many American politicians have visited.

“This is an educational mission and it’s going to be wide-ranging and cover a lot of different areas,” said Brie Callahan, a spokeswoman for the governor. Illinois has a trade office in Israel.

The Chicago Democrat has a busy schedule for the trip, which includes visiting a facility of Schaumburg-based Motorola Solutions, which was formed because of the breakup of Motorola Inc. Motorola Solutions makes police radios, bar code scanners and other products for corporate and government customers. Motorola Mobility makes cellphones.

Quinn also will visit a location for the electric car company Better Place, which is building a network of charging stations in markets around the world including Israel and Denmark.

“I really am looking forward to seeing a lot about sustainability, recycling and electric vehicles. ... Israel has a commitment to convert many of their vehicles to electric in the coming decade, so I really want to learn a lot about that. ... It’s something that, you know, we can work together on. So this is going to be a real important economic trip, too,” Quinn said.

Other highlights of Quinn’s trip include signing a sister lakes agreement between Lake Michigan and Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee.

He’ll also attend a ceremony for an agreement between Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the University of Illinois-Chicago that will promote faculty exchange, joint research and other partnerships, said Aaron Cohen, vice president of communications for the Jewish United Fund.

It was not immediately clear how much Quinn’s trip would cost.

Quinn is scheduled to head to China and Japan in September for a trade mission, Callahan said.