India and Israel have both shared an unparalleled history that dates to preindependence period. India being a cultural-rich nation has been an influential support system for both; Israel as a nation and its citizens. We consider India as our strongest friend in Asia and as Israelis have deepest regards for the association that we have with India in different facets of trade and personal relationship. Our former honorable PM Ariel Sharon in 2002, deemed Indian Foreign Minister visit by Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna a historical step towards the building of the strong foundation of economic relations between the two nations. As India would agree, the key objective of Israeli Chamber of Commerce is to promote Indo-Israel business, trade, and economic relations through various business-oriented initiatives such as information and technology transfer, strategic alliances, joint ventures etc. We have been over the years growing focus on leveraging each other’s capabilities in the field of Information Technology, India is a special country for Israel Water Technologies, Solar etc. Defense equipment procurement, agriculture, foreign diplomacy and tourism hold extremely important position in Indo-Israel relations.India and Israel have deep defense and security ties. Israel has emerged India’s 3rd largest arms suppliers following its exemplary support extended to India during Kargil in 1999.I believe conglomeration of India and Israel entrepreneurs and businessmen will not only help both the economies grow rather it will also help the governments of both the nations in bringing sustainable reforms in their governing policies that will also reduce the role of redtapism in our bureaucratic-bound culture. When we talk of start-ups, the first nation that world thinks of is Silicon Valley.
“With the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the pipeline, bilateral trade is expected to more than double in future.”
A startup nation
It delights me to see Israel now emerging as a “Startup Nation” on a global platform. Our strength lies in our people who possess extreme All we need is to speed up the implementation level of all the MOAs signed till now. determination, enterprise, and enthusiasm. We have worked extensively to develop the most robust technology ecosystem and have grown in fields like Water Technology, Robotics, Manufacturing Equipment, Military etc. The world is a testimony to the success we achieved in “The Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War”. This has been possible only because of our robust technology systems developed over the years. Israel sees India as a powerful and influential country and we share similar socialist roots and I am grateful for the trust that India has shown on us and would be very happy to see Indian youth grow and flourish. With strong infrastructure and skilled manpower availability, we see India as a huge opportunity for Israeli startups and investors looking to expand in India. This has been substantiated in various delegation to and from India. The recent NASSCOM delegation visit in Israel discussed the prospects for strengthening the existing alliances between the two countries and seeking new partnerships. Initiatives like these along with various other programs such as SLIP programs, “Startup India” programs launched by PM Modi and MASHAV, Israel core international development programwould boost India youth to achieve its potential. I believe Indian youth is dynamic and full of required zeal to support India growth trajectory.
“The world is a testimony to the success we achieved in “The Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War”. This has been possible only because of our robust technology systems developed over the years. Israel sees India as a powerful and influential country.”
India is special for Israel
India is a special country. Former President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee said, “The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. India is not just a geographical entity. It carries a history of ideas, philosophy, intellect, industrial genius, craft, innovation, and experience.” This is very true. India is known all over the world as a true example of a nation with extreme cultural-religion and cast diversity. Israel shares 5000 years old history with India. Our people feel safe working here and value the love and compassion that they witnessed even during 26/11. It was very generous of Mr. Modi to meet our 26/11 child survivor Moshe Holtzbergand his nanny Sandra Samuelsduring his visit to Israel in 2017 and similarly, Jewish people of Indian origin find a bond of affection in Israel.
All this instills a lot of trust in us to further strengthen our ties with India. As part of his visit, we re-iterated on the importance of tourism in both nations and we are already seeing an increase in tourism between the two nations.
Transforming agriculture sector Israel has excellence in water management techniques. Israel worked towards eradicating water deficiency in its own nation by developing advanced technology solutions for wastewater management, purification and water reuse in agriculture and industrial sector. Under the Joint Declaration for Cooperation in Water Technologies signed between the Indian Ministry of Urban Development and the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, Israel has pledged to assist India in reducing the cost of desalination of water as well as recycling of water for irrigation purposes. PM Modi catalyzed to initiate joint-ventures between India and Israel in the field of water management. India is an agricultural farming nation and we would be delighted to extend our support to India in leveraging our technology for irrigation management. First, I believe, British policies and plans in irrigation through canals need to be iterated and should be amended from time to time. Government should increase focus on organic farming that will reduce water consumption in the agricultural sector. Water treatment plants are being established by the local and state governments in India. This water can be used for irrigation in the rural and suburban agricultural areas
India is Israel’s 10th largest trading partner. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1992, civilian bilateral trade has grown from $200 million in 1992 to about $5 billion. With the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the pipeline, this is expected to more than double in future. We have historical import-export relationships with each other.
We rely on India for import of items that include precious stones and metals, chemical products, plants and vegetable products etc. while we export items such as precious stones and metals, chemical and mineral products, base metals, machinery, and transport equipment etc. Israel is making a strong push for FTA and we have had multiple discussions with India on this.
Bilateral relations between India and Israel had strengthened significantly to US$ 5.04 billion in 2016-17. Israel is keen to boost the bilateral trade to US$ 10 billion by 2021-22 and it believes that a comprehensive trade pact will be instrumental in increasing two-way trade as well flow of investments.
During the visit of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel and India havesigned a series of bilateral agreements, including in the fields of aviation, renewable energy, cybersecurity, alternative medicine, and cinema. These agreements will help boost the numbers significantly.
We only lack in our speed of implementation and we need to be more aggressive in pushing this area. India space agency ISRO launched a satellite for Israel that shows we have very good trade relationships with India when it comes to military and arms. All we need is to speed up the implementation level of all the MOA’s signed till now and jointventures under process.
We have made a strong push in our relationship with the change in leadership. Hurdles have been started to move out of the way and I am very positive with the government initiatives of both the nations. Shared concerns about terrorism have proven to be a key driver.
