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Nir Barkat
The Economic and Trade Mission at the Permanent Delegation of Israel to the OECD
Minister of Economy and Industry
Description
Nir Barkat is an entrepreneur, former Mayor of Jerusalem, Minister of Economy and Industry, and a Member of the Knesset from the Likud party.
Barkat holds a BA in computer science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While in university, Barkat, together with several friends, created one of the world’s first antivirus technologies and went on to establish BRM, a leading Israeli investment fund. Barkat is a founder and the first chairman of the board of CheckPoint Technologies, an Israeli cyber security giant.
In 2001, he began his philanthropic activity with several educational and social ventures focused on web-based education and high-tech entrepreneurship. Ventures founded by Barkat include the Snunit Center for the Advancement of Web-Based Learning, which integrates technology into education, and IVN (the Israel Venture Network) for nurturing social businesses. Along with students from Jerusalem, he founded New Spirit, which focuses on inspiring youth in Jerusalem.
Between 2003 and 2008, Barkat served as opposition chairman on the Jerusalem City Council, after which he was elected mayor, remaining in that position for a decade. During Barkat’s tenure, Jerusalem changed dramatically. Young people returned to the city, hi-tech companies opened offices in the capital, visits of foreign and local tourists increased, education and academia reassumed leadership, and national and international culture and sporting events filled the city’s venues and streets. As a result of his efforts, Jerusalem showed some of the most significant growth in the world in terms of tourism and the hi-tech industry and was the leading Israeli city in new business openings.
In 2019, Barkat was elected to the Knesset from the high ranks of the Likud party. In 2022, Barkat was appointed Minister of Economy and Industry of the State of Israel.
Barkat did his military service in the Paratroopers Corps. He was injured during an operation in southern Lebanon, yet insisted afterward on returning to the army, becoming a platoon commander in Battalion 890 and taking part in the First Lebanon War.
Barkat takes no salary for his public service beyond a token of one shekel annually.
Barkat is married to Beverly. He is the father of three daughters and a lifelong Jerusalemite.
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