Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen calls on PM Modi, discusses ways to deepen bilateral cooperation

India and Israel discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in priority areas of agriculture, water, and innovation when Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday (May 9, 2023).

“Glad to have met Foreign Minister of Israel @elicoh1. We discussed ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation in priority areas of agriculture, water, innovation and people-to-people ties," Prime Minister Modi wrote on Twitter in response to a tweet about the meeting by Cohen.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), PM Modi emphasized the deepening innovation and knowledge partnership between India and Israel and tapping into the wide-ranging complementary of the two economies

While in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Cohen also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed a wide range of issues. The bilateral talks touched upon various aspects of bilateral cooperation, including connectivity, mobility, academic and scientific research, fintech, agriculture, water, trade, etc, and agreed to further diversify the basket of collaboration, the MEA said.

They also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, including cooperation under the framework of I2U2, the ongoing conflict in Sudan, developments in West Asia, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The two ministers initialled a Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Temporary Employment of Workers in Specific Labour Market Sectors in Israel’ for the recruitment of construction workers and caregivers from India. Both sides also exchanged two Letters of Intent (LoI) for setting up of Centres of Water Technology at IIT, Roorkee and IIT, Madras and another LoI for establishment of an upgraded Centre of Innovation in Agriculture at ICAR, Pusa, New Delhi, according to information provided by the MEA.

The MEA described the visit as an opportunity to deepen the ongoing agriculture and water collaboration between the two countries. In this regard, Cohen met Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The two Ministers also co-chaired the India-Israel Business Forum organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Three B2B MoUs were signed between CII and Israeli business bodies at the Forum.

During the visit, Cohen met with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to talk about the possibility of expanding bilateral defence and security collaboration.

Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen’s meeting with Indian leaders came during his first official visit to India. A 37-member business delegation and some senior officials of the Israeli Government also accompanied him.

The MEA noted that India and Israel have an extensive strategic relationship strengthened by frequent high-level interactions, adding that Foreign Minister Cohen’s visit is the third high-level visit from Israel to India this year. Israeli Parliament’s Speaker Amir Ohana, visited India in March and Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat was here in April. India’s bilateral merchandise trade was US$ 7.86 billion in FY 2021–2022, which has scaled up to a record US$ 10.12 billion in FY 2022-23 (April – Feb).

"The visit of Foreign Minister Eliyahu Cohen has provided further impetus to the bilateral relations between India and Israel, which have remained on a qualitatively higher trajectory ever since the historic visit of Prime Minister Modi to Israel in July 2017," the MEA said.