Underlining the strong ties between the two countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday commemorated the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel 30 years back. He was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel in 2017, propelling the relations to a new strategic high in all spheres, including defence.
Marking the significance of the occasion, Modi, in a televised address lasting about four minutes, said, “When the world is witnessing important changes, the importance of India-Israel relation has increased even more. I am fully confident that the friendship will achieve new milestones in mutual co-operation in the coming years.”
Elaborating upon the centuries-old relations in the absence of diplomatic ties, he said, “The history of the relationship between our countries is very old. There has been a strong relationship between the people of India and Israel for centuries.”
He said there cannot be a better time to set new goals for taking forward India-Israel relations and asserted that the cooperation between the two countries has played a key role in the growth stories of the two nations.
Though India had recognised Israel on September 17, 1950, full-fledged diplomatic relations between the countries were established on January 29, 1992. Since then, the bilateral relations between both countries have developed into multifaceted strategic partnerships. Earlier this week, Israel’s envoy to India Naor Gilon had said the 30th anniversary of India-Israel diplomatic ties was a good opportunity to look ahead and shape the next 30 years of relations.
He exuded confidence that the close cooperation between the two countries in different fields will only grow further in the coming years.
India’s Ambassador to Israel Sanjeev Singla said, “We are proud to mark the 30th anniversary of our bilateral relations and look forward to using the special logo throughout the year to celebrate this special milestone.”
Emphasising that “friendship and trust” are not only positive traits but also “real assets”, the Foreign Ministers of India and Israel in a joint op-ed for an Israeli daily on Friday said the two countries have worked together to “deepen their roots” for the last three decades, delving together to find solutions to common challenges, including in the security sector.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid contributed a joint piece, “Deepening Roots” for Israel Hayom to mark 30 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.