BICOM

Israel’s President arrived on a week-long state visit to India yesterday, where he will meet senior leaders to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On the first day, President Reuven Rivlin Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and the two leaders pledged to deepen their countries’ already strong defence and economic ties.

They signed several agreements for future collaboration in the fields of agriculture, research and water technologies.

Rivlin said: “I have no doubt that my visit here will help the ties and the cooperation between our two peoples will grow stronger.”

Modi said:  “We agreed to intensify our cooperation to combat the forces of extremism and radicalisation that threaten all peace-loving nations.”

He added that Rivlin’s visit would give “a crucial push” to building “new pillars in our partnership”.

Rivlin’s delegation includes a large cohort of Israeli businessmen. He told the Prime Minister: “Israel is ready to ‘make in India’, and ‘make with India’.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Rivlin was welcomed by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at the Presidential Residence in New Delhi. Last year Mukherjee became the first Indian president to visit Israel when he was hosted by Rivlin in Jerusalem. Later this week Rivlin and Mukherjee will jointly open agro-tech conference in the city of Chandigarh.

Israel and India cooperate on a variety of issues such as security, cyber cyber and traditional security, agricultural productivity, science and technology, trade and investment ties, and educational exchanges.