Exclusive: Israel's economy minister Nir Barkat sees India as brother, eyes growth through collaboration

Israel's Economy Minister, Nir Barkat, currently on a visit to India, expressed the potential for collaboration between the two countries, stating that India is seen as a "brother" and such cooperation can "boost and scale our growth". The minister is on an India visit and is the first minister under the current Netanyahu government to visit the country. "I understand the potential of collaboration with India...we could actually together provide to the world new ideas, new initiatives in food production from the sea in Agrotech," he said.

During India visit Barkat, who has served as mayor of Jerusalem in the past, will hold a meeting with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and travel to Mumbai as well. Asked about Adani's investment in his country and concerns regarding the recent Hindenberg report, he said, "We are proud of the fact that an Indian businessman invested in Israel, the fact that Israel accepted that investment in a positive way."

Adani Group has invested in Israel's Haifa port. The minister also spoke about challenges arising from terrorism, protests in his country etc.

Sidhant Sibal: You're the first minister to come to India under the current government of Prime Minister Netanyahu. What is your key focus during your visit?

Nir Barkat: Thank you very much for honoring me. Indeed, I'm here to see how we could collaborate and improve the relationship and the economy of both countries. Naturally, Israel and the Indian people have a lot in common. For 2000 years, Jews felt very comfortable living in India, feeling secure. Many, many Israelis like my daughter, after the army, come to India to have fun. And there's a big love from Israelis to the Indian people and I believe it's mutual. Naturally we share a lot in common and that people to people relationship is very, very strong. I also want to add that the government-to-government ties are very strong. Both PM Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu have a really good relationship and the governments understand that we have a lot in common and a lot to cooperate. Having said that, now, our goal is how do we have more and more business development together. How do we grow our economy? We understand in Israel that India is going to be very soon the third largest economy in the world, and we want to help you get there. And we want to make sure that Israel and India collaborate together for the benefit of growth of both people.

Sidhant Sibal: During your India visit, you're going to meet Indian ministers as well, what kind of conversation are you looking at when it comes to increasing the trade volume between the two countries?

Nir Barkat: Well, naturally, it's focusing on how we could help each other. Israel's very strong on technology, innovation, new ideas, and new ways of thinking. We know how to collaborate with governments that complement Israeli skills. Israel is at the forefront of security, counterterrorism, we know how to have really, really good defense. We're also very good at having good offense. Very offensive methods of counterterrorism. Israel is very strong on what we call desert-tech, Agrotech, food tech, creating food from the sea. We're now looking at areas like this, and while we're only 10 million people strong, just less than 10 million, naturally, India with 1.4 billion people has to work in collaboration with us to scale the ideas that we have. So I believe that working together side by side, these technologies and the scale of India, working together, we can help each other to improve our economies.

Sidhant Sibal: So you mentioned security. If you can talk about it, elaborate on that specific sector, what kind of cooperation both countries can have and what kind of trade both countries can have if you can talk about that.

Nir Barkat: Well, sure. Technology makes a huge difference in understanding how to better secure yourself. Technology has a big huge cluster in Israel. Cybersecurity, 25% of all companies in the world in cybersecurity are fundamentally Israelis. Naturally because we have our threats we've developed to outsmart our enemies in terror and other challenges we have and we're willing to share those ideas with our friends here in India because the relationship between the two countries is such that there's a lot of trust and love between the people. So we can rely on partners like India, to share those ideas on how to counter terror. Now, counterterrorism terror is not only an Israeli challenge, it's a global challenge. We have our challenges from our terrorists, but unfortunately other places in the world have similar challenges. So we've also learned that the best way to challenge terror is not just being reactive and insecurity but also being very offensive and going after the terrorists at their home, at their base, to bring and ship the terror from us to other places. So cybersecurity is a major issue. We are very strong in satellites. We're very strong in creating new kinds of tools to have better security. So this is an area where we already have good collaboration with India. I believe it will scale in a big way.

Sidhant Sibal: Sir, India, Israel Free Trade Agreement is something that has been the buzz, everyone has been trying to talk about it. What is the status like and when do you think that this free trade agreement can be concluded?

Nir Barkat: Well, I'm gonna raise this with my meetings with ministers here. But it's not just a free trade agreement. There is a lot of collaboration between business clusters that are successful in Israel and successful here. It's a lot of business development. And it's a lot together. One of the things I've been speaking to some business people here is how do we get the the business community engaged in on the job training and in the education system and see, because when you want to have a swift growth, one of the challenges you're going to have which is the challenge that we have is how do we swift the skills. 50% of the labor force in India is in agriculture. When you adopt technology, you will see a swift decrease in the number of people focusing on agriculture. So how do you retrain them and refocus them on futuristic jobs versus in the past jobs. In Israel once, we had 50% of our people are farmers, today 5% of Israeli public are farmers and that swift decrease of farmers and it's not that we create less food, we get more food, but we have to retrain the people to future jobs. This is one of the challenges we're going to share with India, the Israeli experience of changing and shifting from old ancient skills and jobs to new futuristic jobs.

Sidhant Sibal: But I mean, when it comes to FTA,  so what's new this time, how optimistic you are when it comes to the free trade agreements?

Nir Barkat: Well, I think that both India and Israel have made more and more free trade agreements lately, in the last few years, and we both recognize how the collaboration between Israel and India can boost and scale our growth. And that's why I believe, at least I'm going to be raising with my peers here in the government, the value of free trade agreements, how they could decrease all kinds of obstacles and improve the collaboration between the two people. And it's not just people to people relationship, which is excellent and the love, we see you folks as brothers in this region. And it's not just the government to government relationship between PM Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu. It's also about how we can create the infrastructure, the more business to business will be made. More education to education, more trade of labour and skills between the two people. And there's no doubt in my mind that it will happen, happen faster than people think. Because it's in the best interest of both countries.

Sidhant Sibal: How do you see the rise of India I mean, you pointed out India will be the third largest economy and they have a lot of optimism regarding. So the rise of India is impacting West Asia, countries in the West Asian region.

Nir Barkat: I'm very happy because I believe that the relationship we have we're going to benefit from it because we can help you get there. The opportunity for India because of its size, and right now I see the shifts happening. I think the government here is doing a phenomenal job on understanding the opportunity and leading the country for more and more open markets, western world thinking, and more collaboration. The I2U2 is a great example of that. How do we, the United States and India and the United Arab Emirates and Israel can collaborate for the benefit of all four partners involved here. I think that kind of relationship is a booster that will help us boost and swiftly move for better economies. In Israel, I'm really focused on growth and growth for Israel has to do with more and more collaboration with other major countries in the world. So the fact that now India is becoming a superpower, and I believe, in a few years from now, you're gonna be the third largest economy in the world. That's Wow. And so working with Israel and India together, will help us grow, and I believe will help you grow faster than not.

Sidhant Sibal: And how do you see the Indian Prime Minister's leadership in terms of bringing Israel and India closer. He has been to Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been to India and we have seen since 2014, the relationship taking a different level altogether.

Nir Barkat: Indeed, and that's why I'm here. This is one of my first trips as the new Minister of Economy and industry. I understand the potential of collaboration with India and I had missions coming from India to my office in Israel. And sort of when we start getting down to the details, that, for example, creating food from the sea. There's really great research done in Israel, of how to take bluefin tuna, for example, and domesticate bluefin tuna and grow the numbers much much more than people can ever imagine, in numbers much bigger than what we collect on the sea today. We know how to optimize the initial phases of increasing the ability of the little eggs to become big fish. Okay. But to scale big numbers, we need partners like India, that know how to take and scale big numbers of creating food from the sea. So these are futuristic ideas that work together taking the skills and the scale of your economy and the entrepreneurial ideas of our economy. And that's where one plus one equals three. And so we could actually together provide to the world new ideas, new initiatives in food production from the sea in Agrotech and desert-tec. How do we create better life in deserts and many, many new ideas that are coming in Israel and we need that partnership for the benefit of the world to enjoy.

Sidhant Sibal: Are we looking at trading in national currencies? I mean, this is something that India has been focusing on with many countries.

Nir Barkat: Well, these are details. I mean, details we could solve, the motivation is there, the love between the people, the understanding that we go back 1000s of years and we can rely on each other for futuristic and new ideas. We know that when India will grow and scale, the relationship between the two countries will be stable and we can build on them. In other words, we can rely on the relationship with India, and I believe India can rely on the relationship with Israel. Which will be sustainable, long term positive, so there's no risk associated with relationships between Israel and India. There's only a big upside. So we should focus on that right now for me as Minister when I go back home, I'm going to convey to my government and my Prime Minister and my people, the people of Israel, how, how beautiful and how big the opportunity is to work with one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Sidhant Sibal: There are concerns as well. That's Adani. I mean, Adani has invested in a port in Israel, but Adani has not been in positive news as well. Do you have any concerns regarding Adani's investments in Israel?

Nir Barkat: No, I think that we are proud of the fact that an Indian businessman invested in Israel, the fact that Israel accepted that investment in a positive way. There's only good complimentary things I hear in Israel about Adani in that investment, and actually is a good testimony that when we do business in each other's country, it's accepted well, so we're looking at the positive here and then, you know, there's only positive in that perspective.

Sidhant Sibal: So now coming to domestic developments, your country was in news for a lot of protests against the government. If you can talk about the current situation. And how has it impacted the stability of the government?

Nir Barkat: Well, I'm very proud of our democracy. When you think about Israel's democracy, the fact that people care and they come on the street, and demonstrate some of them for the reforms we proposed because we believe the reforms will make us a better democracy, some object to it and they feel concerned. The fact that people are willing to go out in the street, is a big testimony for our democracy. We will overcome the Jewish people, Israeli people know how to overcome differences of opinions. We're an exciting democracy. And I look at this in a positive way. Very few democracies in the world have that kind of care. We have that in France, you see now, people go out to the street in France for many reasons. In England, you know, the Brexit, half of the population was for and against. In America, you see, the Democrats and the Republicans sometimes have differences of opinions. It's totally legitimate to have these kinds of challenges in democracy. I see the good side of it, we will manage it.

Sidhant Sibal: But has it impacted the stability of the government and the leadership of the Prime Minister Netanyahu because it's after a long time that Netanyahu has dealt with such a strong wave of protest in your country.

Nir Barkat:  We understand that there are challenges in our country, in a democracy and I believe you'll see that the Prime Minister and I will support them on this, has to consider the different opinions in the country and work out when we talk about infrastructure ideas in our democracy. Our goal is to make them as widely accepted as possible. And I believe that you will see that we will overcome the majority of these challenges. You know why, because we have no choice. We're a strong democracy, we want to thrive and succeed and we all understand eventually, then we need to come together, certainly against threats in Israel and for the benefit of our future. So I see this as a very interesting challenge in a democratic state, but I'm proud of our democracy and there's no doubt in my mind that we will overcome it like other major democracies, who have overcome challenges in, you know, differences of opinions.

Sidhant Sibal: Now coming to an issue that perhaps has been a long standing one, that we saw the flare up in Palestine, we saw missile attack coming from one of your neighboring countries, if you can talk about what's the situation as to your neighbors, and where is it going?

Nir Barkat: Well, I think that unfortunately, we have terrorists challenging Islam. And by the way, they're supported by the regime in Iran, using proxies in Lebanon. We have Hezbollah in Lebanon, we have Hamas in Gaza. We have challenges from Iraq, with long term missiles in Syria. And we have internal challenges in Judea and Samaria and others. I recommend our enemies to reconsider their thoughts. Because if God forbid, they decide to challenge us. We're going to hit them very hard. And they have to understand that while there may be internal challenges in Israel, when it comes to uniting against our enemies that want to combat and fight us, we know how to hit them extremely hard. We have the best technology, the best counterterrorism mechanisms in the world. And we will not be afraid to use them against people that want to hit innocent Israelis. You know, the rockets around Israel are targeted at cities, women and children. Just last week, we had three unfortunately, three women from the same family, two girls, two sisters and their mother that were killed by terrorists, they were just shot dead. On the other hand, what we do is we only target militants. The militants, terrorists hide behind innocent people. But we do everything we can not to hit any civilians, but only to target the militants and the terrorists that want to hit Israel. And so we're using offensive measures. And rather than protect ourselves in our backyard, they have to focus on their own security in their backyard and we will go we're not afraid to go into their backyard and find those terrorists and kill them if needed before they use terror against us. These are methods that have developed in Israel and they're relevant not just for counterterrorism against Israel. I mean, they're all over the world in our methods, we share with our partners like India

Sidhant Sibal: I was coming to that point, you share with partners like India. So how Israel has been helping India in terms of combating the issue of terrorism you have elaborated in the early in your replies earlier, but India also deals with these kinds of problems like attacks from drones from across the border. Cross border terrorism has been a major issue for India. So how has Israel helped India

Nir Barkat: There are things that are not going to be discussed. I prefer that rather than speak about it and give knowledge to our enemies, that sharing of knowledge and information and exchange of ideas and weaponry should not be done over the TV. But trust me, I know that the collaboration is very, very strong, and we will help in all ways possible to help India become a stronger, more independent, better economy and of course more secure.

Sidhant Sibal: So you're the first minister from the current government to come to India. Can we expect more ministers and can we expect Prime Minister Netanyahu to come because in the past, he has been trying to come but for some unfortunate reason, his visit has been delayed or postponed or canceled.

Nir Barkat: My strong recommendation when I go back home is to speak to my peer ministers, and to better explain to them the opportunity. There are no shortcuts here. We need to collaborate and exchange knowledge and information and make an ecosystem even stronger and better, leverage what we have to make it much, much better. When I look into the future, I see a very bright, very bright future for the cooperation between the two countries. And this is not going to be my last meeting because, you know, the effectiveness of a meeting, of coming here is huge for me, and I really now understand how to better structure the relationship, how to better guide my team back in Israel, and what the message I will bring back to the business community in Israel on the opportunity they have doing business here in India. Mind you, when I was younger, I was an entrepreneur. I did a lot of work in the beginning of the 90s in collaborating and doing business in the United States. At the beginning in the early 1990s, doing business in America was a little bit rough. And then we once we resolved how to do business in America. The quality and the quantity of work in America is huge. I have a deja vu. I believe that we're now structuring the relationship between the two governments so that businesses can swiftly flow and make it easier for businesses to work together. And as big as the opportunity that Israel has with the United States, we could develop that opportunity with one of the superpowers, the economic superpowers of the future, which is India. And because the relationship between the Indian people and the Jewish people in Israel is so good, the fact that this could happen faster than anything else depends on us. It's ours to lose. We'll do everything we can to make this happen.

Sidhant Sibal: So my last question to you is, you started by mentioning how Jews have been in India for centuries. 2000 years and there hasn't been any violence against them. I mean, what's the view you have? If you can elaborate it because this is something that we have heard, but since you are here, I would like to ask the question again.

Nir Barkat: Well, both Israelis, Jews and Indian people have a long history, long memory. And once that memory is only positive, unfortunately, we have memories in Europe just 70 plus years ago, we remember the Holocaust. And we remember how the Indian people protected the Jewish people throughout the tough times we always had. We never forget our history. If you want to have a good future, look backwards, in retrospect and see who you could trust. So the fact that both countries can trust each other and love each other. You know, my daughter was here after she served in the army. And I came to visit her here and so many young Israelis love to go to India, to get some, you know, time off and to learn from the Indian people. There's something very smart in the way the Indians operate. And so I believe that once those relationships are so deep into the past, it means that they're going to be very deep and very positive into the future. This is something you learn from the past. And I'm really, really grateful for the fact that I can represent Israel here and thank the Indian people, not only for the past, and not only for the present but actually together discuss a better future.