The maiden visit of Foreign Minister of Israel Eli Cohen to India has provided further impetus to an already robust strategic partnership between the two countries.
In his day long visit which was cut short due to the operation launched against militant group in Gaza strip by Tel Aviv, he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the focused on several issues of bilateral cooperation, including priority areas of water, agriculture, and knowledge partnership tapping into the wide ranging complementarities of the two economies.
The minister was expected to visit Mumbai and Agra, however before rushing back to his country he completed all his meetings and his agenda in New Delhi: held wide ranging talks with his counterpart External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Ajit Doval and also Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
India-Israel Business Forum
Accompanied by a high level 37-member business delegation from his country, he had also addressed the Business Forum organized by the industry body CII and three agreements were inked.
Regional Connectivity
In his address at the Business Forum the visiting minister urged for an early conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries while laying down the outline of a new regional connectivity in the West Asian Region.
The two countries are not just bilateral partners but strategic partners and there are several sectors in which mutual cooperation can be expanded. Both countries have identified sectors like Space, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Health, Energy, Water Management, Defence, Smart Cities and Food where there is scope of expanding and deepening cooperation.
According to an official statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs during talks with Jaishankar, the two agreed to further diversify the basket of collaboration. And, also talked about various regional and international issues of mutual interest including the situation in Sudan, developments in West Asia, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine Conflict, and cooperation under framework of I2U2, among other issues.
Agreements inked
Financial Express Online has reported that the two ministers – Jaishankar and Cohen at the end of talks on Tuesday inked a ‘Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Temporary Employment of Workers in Specific Labour Market Sectors in Israel. This will allow recruitment of and construction workers from India easier. Two Letters of Intent (LoI) were exchanged for setting up of Centres of Water Technology at IIT, Roorkee and IIT, Madras. And LoI for establishment of an upgraded Centre of Innovation in Agriculture at ICAR, Pusa, New Delhi.
