India, Israel review ties in key areas

NEW DELHI: India and Israel on Monday carried out a comprehensive review of their cooperation in an array of areas including defence and security, cyberspace, counter-terrorism and energy.

At a virtual meeting of India-Israel foreign office consultations, the two sides also discussed their respective national approaches to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing collaboration in medical research, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

"Both sides comprehensively reviewed the progress in ongoing cooperation, especially in the strategic fields of defence and security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity," it said in a statement.

The MEA said both sides reviewed cooperation in other important areas of water and agriculture, science and technology, innovation and start-ups, energy as well as trade and mutual investments.

It said the two sides also held an in-depth exchange of views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

"The success stories of the jointly developed Centres of Excellence in agriculture, pilot project on water conservation in Bundelkhand region, and close collaboration between the Ahmedabad-based International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology and Israel's Start-Up Nations Central to provide incubation support for co-development of niche technologies came up for particular praise," it said.

The Indian delegation was led by Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary (Consular, Passport and Visa, and Overseas Indian Affairs division) in the MEA while the Israeli side was headed by Alon Ushpiz, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel.