New Delhi, Nov 17: New Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to visit India next year and both countries are working on the tentative dates, the country’s envoy said.
“We are working on it (Israel PM’s visit to India). We don’t have a date yet but hopefully, it’s not at the beginning of the year. Maybe, in the middle of the (next) year,” said Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India.
On the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Modi and Naftali held their first meeting. Other than discussions on various topics pertaining to defence, environment and global, regional issues, the meeting caught attention when in a lighter vein Naftali asked Prime Minister Modi to join his party counting on Indian PM’s popularity in Israel.
Israel’s envoy to India also said that both countries will soon complete free trade agreement negotiations.
He said, “We (India and Israel) discussed the Free Trade Agreement and decided to try and finalize it by June. It can help trade between the countries, exchange of expert workers and other things.”
Former Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu visited India in January 2018 and he shared great chemistry with PM Modi.
India considers Israel an important partner as it is hugely dependent on the latter for high technology and defence equipment.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar visited Israel recently. Meanwhile, Indian Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane is currently visiting Israel.
Israel joined the International solar alliance during the Jaishankar visit and also both sides agreed on mutual recognition of vaccines.
Both the countries also participated in the first Quad meet between India, Isreal, UAE and United States. The next meeting will be in Dubai later this year. (Agencies)
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