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PM Modi Israel visit: Water, agriculture to be high on agenda
YB WEB DESK. Dated: 7/3/2017 8:52:56 PM
Water and agriculture will be high on agenda during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel, the country’s director general of foreign affairs said at a press briefing on Monday. Yuval Rotem, Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will escort and accompany PM Modi during his three-day visit, a practice usually not extended to other foreign dignitaries.
Israel Ambassador to India, Danny Carmon said the country is “very excited” about the visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 25 years after establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. “It’s huge symbolic significance of visit of PM of India, first visit ever to Israel,” Carmon told reporters.
Sharing details about PM Modi’s schedule, Carmon said he would be meeting his counter Benjamin Netanyahu for a “working lunch” on Wednesday. The bilateral meeting would last for four hours, he said. Agriculture and water, among others, will be the areas of cooperation the two countries wish to set up joint strategic partnerships. Israel is also looking to seek cooperation in the area of Space technology, he said.
During his visit, PM Modi will be visiting Haifa and pay tribute to the fallen soldiers during World War I. He would also visit the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. The prime minister will be addressing a crowd of around four thousand Indians during his visit.
Speaking to the media on his upcoming visit, PM Modi said boosting economic ties and furthering people-to-people interactions would be on his agenda. Saying that he would be holding “wide-ranging talks” with Netanyahi, PM Modi added that common challenges like terrorism will be discussed.