Israeli PM India Bennett to visit India on April 3-5 to strengthen bilateral cooperation: MEA

New Delhi, Mar 22: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will visit India on April 3-5 and his trip is expected to further strengthen the excellent bilateral cooperation in diverse areas such as agriculture, water, trade and science and technology, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

On the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Israeli PM will undertake the three-day visit to India, the MEA said on Tuesday. The two leaders had earlier met on the sidelines of COP 26 in Glasgow in November 2021, and also had a telephonic conversation on August 16, 2021, the MEA stated.

The visit by Bennett would be his first to India in his capacity as prime minister. This visit would take place on the occasion of the commemoration of 30 years of full diplomatic relations between India and Israel and 75 years of India's independence.

India and Israel elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership during the historic visit of Prime Minister Modi to Israel in July 2017, the statement noted. Since then, the two countries have continued to deepen their strategic partnership, with a focus on innovation and research as two knowledge-based economies.

The visit by the Israeli PM is expected to further strengthen our excellent bilateral cooperation in diverse areas, including in agriculture, water, trade, education and science and technology, the statement said.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett had said that he will be visiting India in the first week of April to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. "I am delighted to pay my first official visit to India at the invitation of my friend, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, and together we will continue leading the way for our countries' relations," Bennett had said.

"Modi restarted relations between India and Israel, and this is of historic importance. The relations between our two unique cultures, Indian culture and the Jewish culture, are deep, and they rely on deep appreciation and meaningful collaborations," he had said. "There are many things we can learn from the Indians, and this is what we strive to do," Bennett said, pledging to expand cooperation "to other areas, from innovation and technology, security and cyber, to agriculture and climate change. PTI