Indian PM interviews with Channel 2 News ahead of historic visit

Ever since Prime Minister Narasimha Rao established diplomatic ties with Israel in 1992, bilateral relations have grown significantly and Israel has been one of the three pillars of India’s Middle East policy along with Saudi Arabia and Iran. The message inscribed on the copper plates says that the village of Anjuvannam belongs to the Jews and their descendants “so long as the world or moon exists”. With friendly relations with Muslim monarchies of the Gulf, and Iran, India had been reluctant to come out of the closet about its relationship with Israel until Narendra Modi took oath. Narendra Modi will notch up several firsts to his credit when he lands in Tel Aviv.

On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized the Modi’s as “historic”, and said he will accompany him to numerous sites on his visit. Prime Minister Netanyahu will also accompany his Indian counterpart to all events during his historic visit to the country.

The considerable warming of diplomatic relations between Israel and India in recent years has not yet been translated into economic relations. This is an additional expression of the state of Israel’s economic and diplomatic strength.as India is a huge country with a large population and growing economy, the tie between India and Isreal is “constant upswing”.

“Tomorrow, I begin a historic visit to Israel, a very special partner of India’s. India and Israel could cooperate even more closely and complement each other’s efforts to fight with the menace of terrorism”, the Indian leader added.

“India offers Israel a large market for its defense exports, and Saudi Arabia and Iran get a market for their oil and gas”, he said. PM Modi through a tweet has responded to that video.

“The Alliance is already implementing department of science and technology’s other bilateral industrial R&D programmes with countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Canada, Korea and Finland”, said the official.

The Global Times further quotes Zongyi, as saying that Prime Minister Modi was the fifth foreign leader that Trump spoke with over the phone since being sworn in as US president on January 20, but Trump’s face-to-face meeting with Modi came after his meetings with over 20 heads of state. The two countries will sign a strategic partnership for water and agriculture, as India works to pull its own agri and water sector out of a historical quagmire. In the Jewish State, there are an estimated 80,000 to 85,000 non-resident Indians, or those whose ancestry dates back to India.

Now, an interesting trivia about Modi’s visit is that he would be accommodated in the same luxury suite at King David Hotel in Jerusalem where US President Donald Trump had stayed during his visit in May, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

The Israeli envoy hinted that defence cooperation can also be discussed during PM Modi’s meeting with the Israeli leadership, but refused to divulge more details by saying “we don’t talk much about publicly”.

Officials from Israel and representatives from CII held a discussion on potential areas of collaboration between the two countries last week. But an Israeli diplomat said Modi’s standalone trip to Israel was an important signal.