After NSA Ajit Doval, S Jaishankar may visit Israel
NEW DELHI: India is sending foreign secretary S Jaishankar to Israel as part of a series of high-level visits to the country to lay the ground for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic trip to Israel in June-July.
Jaishankar follows National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who was in Jerusalem for two days last week.
Modi’s tour of Israel, the first ever by an Indian prime minister, will mark 25 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Israel is the second largest supplier of defence equipment to India after Russia.
Officials familiar with the matter told ET that Delhi is now looking to expand this relationship to include joint production. They said Modi is expected to push Israeli defence companies to set up manufacturing units in India under his government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
There are also reports that India and Israel will co-develop and produce a medium-range surface-to-air missile for use by the Indian Army at a cost of over $2.5 billion. Earlier, the two countries had jointly designed ‘Barak 8’ surface-to-air missile.
Jaishankar follows National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who was in Jerusalem for two days last week.
Modi’s tour of Israel, the first ever by an Indian prime minister, will mark 25 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Israel is the second largest supplier of defence equipment to India after Russia.
Officials familiar with the matter told ET that Delhi is now looking to expand this relationship to include joint production. They said Modi is expected to push Israeli defence companies to set up manufacturing units in India under his government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.
There are also reports that India and Israel will co-develop and produce a medium-range surface-to-air missile for use by the Indian Army at a cost of over $2.5 billion. Earlier, the two countries had jointly designed ‘Barak 8’ surface-to-air missile.
