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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday called on Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and discussed ways to enhance the bilateral relationship besides exchanging views on regional and global issues of mutual concern.
Jaishankar, who is currently on a five-day visit to Israel, called on the two leaders separately.
This is Jaishankar’s first visit to Israel as External Affairs Minister. He is visiting the country at the invitation of Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.
On Tuesday, Jaishankar met with Israeli Parliament Speaker Mickey Levy and the two leaders discussed at length the common challenges faced by the two countries like radicalisation, and took stock of the developments in the region.
Strategic partnership
On Monday, Jaishankar held “very productive talks” with Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid during which the two countries agreed to resume negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) from next month with an aim to conclude the long-pending deal by next June.
Also see: India, Israel to start talks on free trade agreement next month
India and Israel elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership during the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in July 2017.
Since then, the relationship between the two countries has focused on expanding knowledge-based partnership, which includes collaboration in innovation and research, including boosting the 'Make in India' initiative.