India-Israel to work on US$20bn trade goal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told the Indian industry, start-ups and the academia to collaborate and cash in on the advances in technology of Israeli companies that has won global admiration.

Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu were addressing the organised jointly by FICCI, ASSOCAM, CII and the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel (MAI). FICCI was the lead coordinator for the Summit.

He pointed out that for making ‘Start up India’ programme a success, it was imperative for industry, start-ups and the academia to collaborate with their Israeli counterparts.

“We have launched the maiden call for joint R&D projects under the ‘India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (i4F)’ which was announced during my visit to Israel last July,” said Modi.

This Fund, to be utilized over a period of 5 years, is a welcome opportunity to combine the talent pool of the two countries in pursuit of path-breaking technological solutions that can be commercially exploited.

The Prime Minister of India encouraged enterprises in both countries to utilize this platform.

“Equally exciting is the pick up in science and technology exchanges through joint R&D projects such as in areas like ‘Data Analytics’ and ‘Cyber Space security’.”

An India-Israel Innovation and Technology Conclave is going to be held in India in July 2018. “I hope this Conclave will spur co–development of new technologies. In fact, the ground-work for this will be started from iCREATE day after tomorrow. We are both going to Gujarat to inaugurate this campus, which is being developed as a leading innovation hub,” said Modi.

Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the India-Israel Business Summit held in New Delhi 15 Jan 2018.

Netanyahu said that the economic reforms and emphasis on technology for growth in India was an agenda that the two countries could take forward together.

He stressed on the role of big data, artificial intelligence and connectivity to achieve high innovation-led rates of growth.

The challenge before the two countries was to achieve the goal of US$20 billion worth of trade in the next four and a half years, according to Shraga Brosh, President of Manufacturers’ Association of Israel (MAI)

He expressed confidence that given the desire and the commitment of the two sides this would be achieved.

The two countries have an Innovation Bridge as a foundation stone to innovate, incubate, indigenise and internationalise global markets.

Cooperation in agriculture and water, collaborations in research, development and technological innovations to strategic collaborations in defence and counter-terrorism are becoming the bed-rock of multi-faceted relations between the two countries, said Rashesh Shah, President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

“Cooperation in the field of innovations, start-ups and cutting-edge technology across sectors, is all set to define our cooperation for many years to come,” he emphasized.

India and Israel could work together in areas such as space and satellite cooperation, cyber security, development of India-specific technologies and products and high-tech manufacturing for Indian and overseas markets in one of India’s industrial corridors, elaborated Shobana Kamineni, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Noting Israel for its technology in defence, pharma, agriculture, cyber security and gems, ASSOCHAM President Sandeep Jajodia called on the businesses of the two countries to complement the development of each other’s economy.

The summit was organized by MAI, FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM. fii-news.com