Ambassador of Israel to India Alon Ushpiz on Thursday called on HRD Minister Smriti Irani to discuss strengthening of educational relations between India and Israel. Recalling the close ties in different fields like Science and Technology, Education, Culture, Economic and Commercial among others between the two countries, Irani stressed that education is an engine of growth and collaborative knowledge creation is very important for building a better world. The two discussed the new Joint Research programme between India and Israel, in which both nations have pledged to take up joint research programmes worth USD 5.0 million per year. Ushpiz informed that Israel offers 200 Post Doctoral fellowships of which about 80 percent are availed by Indian students. The Ambassador also highlighted that Nobel laureate Ada E Yonath, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dr V Ramakrishnan, will be visiting India during March 2015. He also invited the HRD Minister to visit Israel.