During an economic development trip this week to Beit Shemesh, Israel, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett announced a sister-city relationship between the jurisdictions to help boost the county's international business presence.

Leggett (D) made the announcement during a video conference Wednesday from the Israeli city, while the city's mayor, Daniel Vaknin - who was visiting the Washington, D.C., area - watched from the county's economic development offices in Rockville.

Leggett took the trip with his special assistant, Charles Short, members of the Jewish Community Relations Council and Barry Bogage, executive director of the Maryland?Israel Development Center, which acts as a ''matchmaker" between companies from the two areas.

County officials chose Beit Shemesh for the sister-city distinction based on the longstanding relationship between the city and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington which is Partnership 2000 Beit Shemesh-Yehuda Plains-Washington-South Africa of the Jewish Agency. The Israeli city has similar relationships with 12 other international cities.

The sister-city partnership with Beit Shemesh is the first such partnership of Leggett's administration. Within the county, the city of Rockville has a sister-city relationship with Pinneberg, Germany.
''A sister-city relationship allows for an easier exchange of business, ideas and cultures," said Pradeep Ganguly, the county's economic development director. ''With this partnership comes official acceptance of delegations from the area, including setting up meetings and tours on their behalf."
About 30 Israeli companies have a Maryland presence, with two-thirds of those located in Montgomery, said county spokeswoman Janis Peters.

Most of those in the county are biotech or advanced technology firms, some of which have acquired federal contracts. Among those companies are BSP Biological Signal Processing Inc. of Rockville, which provides heart disease monitoring systems for cardiologists, and Exent Technologies of Bethesda, which provides support services for personal computer and video games.
''We are an international community with a lot to offer other countries," said County Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 1) of Gaithersburg, who attended the video conference.