Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's visit to India from April 3-5 is expected to further strengthen the excellent bilateral cooperation in diverse areas such as agriculture, water, trade and science and technology, the Ministry of External Affairs said here on Tuesday.
The Pioneer had on Tuesday reported about his visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit marks 30 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and India. Incidentally, Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel in 2017. Officially announcing Bennett's visit to India, the external affairs ministry said Israeli PM will undertake the three-day visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders had earlier met on the sidelines of COP 26 in Glasgow in November 2021, and also had a telephonic conversation on August 16, 2021, the ministry statement noted.
The visit by Bennett would be his first to India in his capacity as prime minister. India and Israel elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership during Modi’s historic visit to Israel in July 2017, the statement noted.
Since then, the two countries have continued to deepen their strategic partnership, with a focus on innovation and research as two knowledge-based economies. The visit by the Israeli PM is expected to further strengthen our excellent bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including in agriculture, water, trade, education and science and technology, the statement said. Earlier, Bennett had said he will be visiting India in the first week of April to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"I am delighted to pay my first official visit to India at the invitation of my friend, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, and together we willcontinue leading the way for our countries' relations," Bennett had said. "Modi restarted relations between India and Israel, and this is of historic importance. The relations between our two unique cultures, Indian culture and the Jewish culture, are deep, and they rely on deep appreciation and meaningful collaborations," he had said. "There are many things we can learn from the Indians, and this is what we strive to do," Bennett said, pledging to expand cooperation "to other areas, from innovation and technology, security and cyber, to agriculture and climate change.”