India, Israel ink nine pacts on cyber security, other sectors

NEW DELHI: Eyeing to upgrade strategic partnership India and Israel on Monday inked nine pacts in key areas, including cyber security and oil & gas sectors amid PM Narendra Modi’s call to Israel firms to take advantage of the liberalised FDI regime in the defence sector that would boost Make in India initiative.

Amid their strong personal chemistry Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu held extensive talks to strengthen ties in the strategic areas of defence and counter- terrorism. Identifying role of non-state actors in promoting terror Modi and Netanyahu advocated strong measures against terrorists, terror organizations, those who sponsor, encourage or finance terrorism or provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups.

Netanyahu’s visit aimed at celebrating 25 years of diplomatic ties hoped to lay foundation for next 25 years. “The two Prime Ministers share a common vision for the relationship. They believe that in the next twenty-five years the two respective countries should strive to raise bilateral cooperation in diverse sectors to a qualitatively new level in consonance with our Strategic Partnership,” noted the Joint Statement issued after talks.


India and Israel will strengthen the existing pillars of cooperation in areas such as agriculture, technology and security, Modi said at a joint media event with Netanyahu. On his part, Netanyahu described Modi as a “revolutionary” leader. Modi on his part said, “Prime Minister, I have a reputation of being impatient in getting results. If I may let out an open secret, I know that so are you…”

That India’s focus is on accessing state of art Israeli defence technology was evident when Modi said, “In defence, I have invited Israeli companies to take advantage of the liberalised FDI regime to make more in India with our companies. Last year, you (Netanyahu) had expressed an intent to cut down bureaucratic red tape. In India, we are doing just that. Our discussions today were marked by convergence to accelerate development and scale our partnership.”

The two PMs focused on developing more business models and partnerships for the joint ventures and joint manufacturing, including transfer of technology as well as joint research and development in defence and security fields. They called on the Defence Ministries to hold discussions in 2018 with active involvement of the public and private sectors, in order to create the basis for viable, sustainable and long term cooperation in the defence industry.

The two Prime Ministers also discussed the developments pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process as India emphasised on a two-state solution. They reaffirmed their support for an early resumption of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians “for arriving at a comprehensive negotiated solution on all outstanding issues, based on mutual recognition and effective security arrangements, for establishing a just and durable peace in the region”.