Israel has offered knowledge and technology to clean the River Ganga, under the ‘Namami Gange’ project under which India aims to make the national river free of pollution within three years. A delegation of Israeli water companies, led by Amit lang, Director General, Ministry of Economy of Israel, met the prospective Indian companies on Tuesday to explore collaborations.
“A major item on our agenda is to offer Israeli expertise for India’s Clean Ganga project, for which we have met Secretary, Water Resources,” said lang after the meeting. “Indian authorities have been invited to visit Israel and meet water resource management authorities and water specialists. Cleaning industrial pollutants from the river should be the first priority,” he said.
Prominent amongst the Israeli companies that participated in the conference include Naan Dan Jain, Baran Group, Amiad, Arrow Ecology, Israel National Water Company. Naan Dan Jain is already constructing a $55 billion fully-automated 12,000-hectare drip-irrigation project in Karnataka. An agreement to this effect was signed in 2012 between the two nations aimed at fostering cooperation, with a focus on urban water management.
lang informed that Israel has the world’s largest and cheapest desalination plant in the world. It is a world leader in water efficiency and waste water management, thereby capable of offering a range of technologies in water resource management.
Both the countries also discussed the proposed Free Trade Agreement between them. Expressing optimism, lang said that he did not see obstacles in this regard, although India had expressed concerns. “Israel is not a threat to India. It’s a small country. Also industries which are considered big in Israel, will be considered small and medium industries in India,” he added. Further, Israel is very good in innovation and India good in services and manufacturing hence FTA would be complementary to both countries, pointed out lang.