National Desk, 9 May: Foreign minister of Israel Eli Cohen is scheduled to land in India on Tuesday for a three-day visit during which he will meet with S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs. Eli Cohen will also be present at the India-Israel Business Forum organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). A special meeting with Eli Cohen is being organised by the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute and will take place on May 9 in New Delhi, according to a statement from CII.
According to a media warning issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Cohen will leave for Agra in the evening to attend a session scheduled for May 10 following his meeting with Jaishankar and after attending the CII India-Israel Business Forum. On May 10, after spending time at Agra, he will fly back to Delhi. On May 11, he will go to Mumbai, where he has a programme to attend. According to a media notice, he will return to Israel on May 11.
The trip comes after Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat made a four-day official trip to India in April of this year with a sizable corporate delegation to deepen bilateral ties in fields of mutual interest, including automotive technologies and fintech. Amir Ohana, the speaker of the Israeli Knesset and a parliamentary team made an official trip to India in late March. Naor Gilon, the Israeli ambassador to India praised the bonds between the two nations earlier this month and expressed excitement about visiting the foreign minister shortly.
“These days we are fortunate to have a series of high-level visits from Israel to India. In late March, we had the visit of the Israel speaker of the parliament Knesset, In mid -April, we had the first-ever visit of the Minister of Economy and we are expecting to host soon the Minister of Foreign Affairs and later in the year, hopefully also our Prime Minister,” said the envoy.
“What is common in these visits is that they return impressed by the strong sympathy and friendship between India and Israel, as well as the understanding of the growing importance of India to Israel and to the world,” he added.
The envoy continued by stating that profound trust between India and Israel is the foundation of their cooperation, which is demonstrated by their cooperation in even the most delicate areas.
“I’ve never experienced before such deep appreciation, affection and friendship towards Israel as I do wherever I go in India. A similar sentiment towards India exists in the hearts of many Israelis. The cooperation between India and Israel is based on deep trust. This is evident by the wide fields of cooperation including in the most sensitive ones”, said the Israeli Envoy.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is anticipated to visit India before the end of this year, according to Naor Gilon, who was reported by ANI. Nir Barkat expressed his inspiration for the chance for cooperation between the economies of Israel and India during his visit in April. Responding to a question from ANI on his India visit, Barkat said, “I’m inspired by the opportunity of collaborating between Israeli economy and the Indian economy. But prior to that, I want to mention the friendship between the people.”
He further said, “Israelis love Indians and thank God, Indians love Israelis. We have good history for 2,000 years, while Jews had challenges all over the world, we always felt safe and secure living and doing business in India. And I think this is very important looking into the future.”
Barkat described the governments of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “friendly” when discussing relations between India and Israel. He suggested that Israel and India should prioritise business expansion. Additionally, he participated in the India-Israel Business Forum, where he declared that the citizens of India are “good friends” of Israel.
Nir Barkat further said, “Both governments, Modi and Netanyahu, are friendly. We both understand how to take our economy to the next level. So, I’m inspired by the opportunity. Naturally, what I believe we should do now is focus on business growth and see how our technology, we’re tiny, a little country, less than 10 million people, but we have good ideas.”
A MoU on the first collaboration and information exchange agreement between the parliaments of Israel and India was signed during a visit to India by Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and a parliamentary delegation in late March. Ohana visited the Parliament House and spoke with Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar there.
Amir Ohana of the Israeli Knesset and the parliamentary delegation met with S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, in New Delhi to discuss bilateral ties between the two nations. The two sides spoke about fostering cooperation in I2U2 and enhancing India-Israel relations.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India and Israel commemorated 30 years of upgrading their bilateral ties to full diplomatic relations in 2022. In all areas of cooperation, including water, agriculture, counterterrorism and defence, India and Israel have developed bilateral consultative forums.