PM Modi to visit Israel for two days on Feb 25 to strengthen defence and trade ties; will hold talks with Netanyahu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a twoday visit to Israel beginning Wednesday to shore up bilateral defence and trade cooperation amid the ongoing tensions in the Middleeast including deteriorating ties between the US and IranModis engagements will include his address to Israels parliament wideranging talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and a meeting with President Isaac HerzogThis visit will reaffirm the deep and longstanding strategic partnership between the two countries and will present an opportunity to review the common challenges as well as realign efforts towards achieving their shared vision for a robust partnership between two resilient democracies the Ministry of External Affairs MEA saidIt is learnt that boosting overall defence and security cooperation will be a major area of discussions during delegation level talks between the two prime ministers on ThursdayNetanyahu is scheduled to host a private dinner for Modi on Wednesday night It will be Modis second visit to Israel in nine years The IndiaIsrael relationship was elevated to the level of strategic partnership during Modis first visit to that country in July 2017Netanyahu had made a return visit to India in January 2018 India and Israel share a robust strategic partnership with strong cooperation across science and technology innovation defence and security trade and investment agriculture water and peopletopeople relationsThe two leaders will review the significant progress made in IndiaIsrael Strategic Partnership and discuss further opportunities in various areas of cooperation including science and technology innovation defence and security agriculture water management trade and economy and people to people exchanges the MEA said in a statementIt said the leaders are also expected to exchange perspectives on regional and global issues of mutual interest In their talks the two prime ministers are also likely to deliberate on the prevailing situation in the MiddleEast including in GazaFollowing the outbreak of the IsraelIran conflict in June last Netanyahu and Modi spoke twice on the phone On October 9 Modi dialled Netanyahu and congratulated him on the progress made under President Donald Trumps Gaza peace planThere has been an upswing in the IndiaIsrael ties in the last few years including in the areas of defence scientific research cybersecurity and innovation The defence cooperation has emerged as an important pillar of the partnership between the two sides with Israel supplying a plethora of military platforms and weapon systems to IndiaIn November last during the visit of Indias defence secretary to Israel an important agreement on defence cooperation was signed As India is looking at developing an indigenous air defence shield called Sudarshan Chakra it is learnt that New Delhi would like to explore the possibility of incorporating certain elements from Israels Iron Dome allweather air defence system that can intercept and destroy missiles and artillery shellsThe trade and investment ties between the two sides are also witnessing steady progress During the visit to Israel of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in November the term of reference ToR for the launch of Free Trade Agreement FTA negotiations between India and Israel was signedIn September the two sides had inked a Bilateral Investment Agreement BIA to expand economic cooperation The peopletopeople ties between the two countries are also an important aspect of the overall relations with over 41000strong Indian diaspora playing a key role in the twoway engagementIn November 2023 India and Israel signed a bilateral framework agreement to facilitate the temporary and legal employment of Indian workers in Israel Since then 20000 Indians arrived in Israel both under the GovernmenttoGovernment route and through private channels according to officialsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever