This refers to the article, “Visits that break the mould” (January 15) by Balbir Punj. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s four-day visit to India is historic and has the potential to take India-Israel bilateral ties to a different zone all together. Israel's capabilities in the area of defence, Research and Development, trade and agriculture are well known. Moreover, the country supported India in the 1962 China war and Kargil war and has also pioneered sea water purification technology through Gal-Mobile, an integrated water purification vehicle. The high profile delegation of 130 businessmen along with Netanyahu is further a testimony to the fact that Israel is keen in investing in our country.
It may just be a coincidence that Netanyahu’s visit is happening just after India announced Foreign Direct Investment in aviation, single brand retail and construction. Hopefully, both India and Israel will collaborate on this. Since our States are waiving farm loans left right and center, it will be more than useful to have collaboration with Israel in areas of water conservation and agriculture to reverse this dangerous trend. And with the recent threat from Wannacry and loopholes exposed in Aadhaar, it is imperative that we do not take cyber security lightly anymore and take the help of Israel in tightening loopholes in our cyber security as we move towards digitisation.