ISLAMABAD: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Israel on Feb 25 on a two-day trip focused on bilateral and regional issues.
The visit is viewed as significant in the backdrop of the situation in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has termed India-Israel ties “tremendous”, signaling talks on expanding cooperation.
Well-placed diplomatic sources told The News on Wednesday that the US-Iran standoff and tense relations had attached significance with the trip that is taking place after eight years.
Indian wire-service PTI reported that Modi was expected to address the Knesset, where discussions are likely to cover key bilateral and regional issues. “Tremendous alliance between Israel and India, and we are going to discuss all sorts of cooperation,” Netanyahu said.
The two countries are working to advance negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Israel in December, meeting Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
In November, India and Israel signed an agreement to deepen cooperation in defence, industry and technology, including sharing of advanced systems to support joint development and production.
The India-Israel Joint Working Group on defence held its annual meeting in Tel Aviv, reviewing collaboration in joint planning, training, defence industrial partnerships, research and development, artificial intelligence, cyber security and technological innovation.
Netanyahu announced Modi’s upcoming visit while addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, describing India and Israel as strong strategic partners with expanding cooperation.
Netanyahu also said that there was a lot of cooperation between India and Israel.
“We will talk about all kinds of cooperation. Now you know, India is not a small country, a population of 1.4 billion people, India is very powerful and very popular.”
