Amb. Uri Gutman

Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Reichman University; President, Israel-Korea Chamber of Commerce; Former Israeli Ambassador to South Korea, Consul General in Shanghai, and Head of Economic & Culture Office in Taipei; Former Head of Policy Planning, Israeli MFA

Amb. Uri Gutman is a Fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, based at Reichman University, following 30-years as a Mid-East expert and a policy-planning leader at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Amb. Gutman serves as the President of the Israel-Korea Chamber of Commerce. In addition, he consults Israeli companies that aim to enter international markets and is a senior consultant to the 2i VC managed by Altshuler-Shaham and MAFAT.

Amb. Gutman taught “Economic and Innovation Diplomacy, the Trade Wars and the art of entering international markets” at Reichman University and Tel Aviv University between 2021-2023.

Amb. Uri Gutman was a career diplomat between 1989 and 2019, specializing in Middle East, East Asia and Economic affairs. He served as Ambassador to South Korea, Consul General in Shanghai and Head of the Economic and Culture Office in Taipei. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Head of Mission in Stockholm and in Istanbul.

While in Israel, Amb. Gutman headed the Policy Planning Bureau at the Ministry (2016-2019). Prior to this he was the Director of Israel’s US Consulates Department (2010-2013), Director of Israel’s successful accession process to the OECD (2008-2010), Director of the Egypt Department (2002-2005) and initiated and headed the People-to-People activities with the Palestinians and the Arab World (1995-1997), within the Culture and Science Division in the Ministry.

Amb. Gutman specializes in Middle East Politics, holds an MA from Hebrew University and speaks Arabic. Over his years in the Foreign Ministry, he initiated and brought to completion the first economic agreement between Israel and Turkey (1993), the first R&D agreement with Jiangsu Province, China (2008) and the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea (2021).

Amb. Gutman was born and raised in Jerusalem. He did his military service as an officer (1977-1981). He also participated in the IDF’s Brigadier-General Course (2017-2018).