"Defence and security a cornerstone of this partnership": Indian envoy to Israel JP Singh ahead of PM Modi's Israel visit

In an interview with Doordarshan India, Singh described the February 25 to 26 visit as "a very historic visit", recalling that Modi's first trip to Israel in 2017 "laid down the foundation of our relationship."

"This is a very historic visit. The first time he came to Israel was in 2017, and that time he laid down the foundation of our relationship. And now we have reached the stage where we need to take it forward and start a new phase of our strategic relationship," Singh said.

Our defence ties, the Ambassador said, "In this visit, you know, we have a strategic partnership." He added, "Defence and security are like a cornerstone of this partnership."

Referring to recent developments, Singh noted, "In defence last year, we signed a memorandum of understanding in defence cooperation. And there is already cooperation going on."

He highlighted the role of India's flagship 'Make in India' programme in boosting joint production." Under the Make in India program, many Israeli companies are participating, and the countries can benefit from this cooperation," he said.

Singh also pointed to the complementary strengths of both nations. "The best thing about India and Israel is that we don't compete with each other, we complement each other. And we complement in our core strengths," he said, citing Israel's expertise in science, innovation and critical technologies, and India's large pool of skilled manpower and scalable ecosystem.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, stated that defence and artificial intelligence (AI) will be the primary focus between India and Israel during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Israel starting February 25.

Azar, in a conversation with ANI, noted that PM Modi shares a special relationship with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Well, we are thrilled to have Prime Minister Narendra Modi after nine years in Israel. He is very loved in Israel. He has a very special relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu and we've been working in the last year, aligning up ministers coming to India to develop new areas of cooperation, sign new agreements, and we have gathered, we accumulated a number of agreements that we're going to sign during this visit," he said.

Azar said that Israel and India will co-produce and also co-develop new means that are needed to face the challenges of terrorism."First and foremost, in the security field, we want to expand and enhance security, defence industrial cooperation, especially introducing new technologies and more sensitive technologies into the mix to not only sell, but also co-produce and also co-develop new means that are needed to face the challenges that we have in counterterrorism and other fields," he said.

Azar further said that India and Israel are going to sign an FTA in the coming months.

"In addition, we want to sign an FTA. And the blessing of the leaders is going to be important in that context because we want to finish the negotiation in the coming months. That is going to be very important in enhancing the trade between the two countries," he said.When asked about the mission Sudarshan Chakra, a system which is somewhat like the Iron Dome system, which you have in Israel, Azar said that missile defence and the usage of AI in missiles are something the leaders will touch upon.

"Well, we usually do not elaborate on the specifics of the Industrial Defence Corporation. But I can tell you that, indeed, missile defence is one field that we're going to deal with. The combination of AI with drones is another field that we're going to deal with in the future. There are many things that are going to happen as a result of the signing of this agreement. And this is going to really become a special strategic relation in which we're going to do things that are important for both countries and are more sensitive than the things we've been doing before," he said.

Azar said that both nations have had fruitful meetings on cooperation in the AI field.

"We had very fruitful meetings with the head of our AI directorate at the prime minister's office. He met with leading figures at MIT, the special envoy to AI. He met with people at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also with major Indian companies that are dealing in the AI field. What we have the sense following this meeting is that we can do a lot together because again, India has scale. for example, building huge solar fields and renewable energy sources. We can have fast solutions in AI that will reduce the cost of AI by making energy more efficient, data centres more efficient," he said.

PM Modi is scheduled to begin his two-day visit to Israel on February 25, nine years after his first trip to the country. His 2017 trip was the first ever by an Indian Prime Minister to Israel. (ANI)