‘India is a rising power and right place to be’: Israel seeks deeper economic ties with New Delhi

Israel’s Economy & Industry Minister Nir Barkat and Ambassador to India Reuven Azar made a strong pitch for India as a top investment destination on Tuesday at the India-Israel Business Forum in New Delhi. Azar described India as a ‘rising power’ with immense business opportunities for global investors.

India and Israel are poised to strengthen their economic ties further. On Tuesday (February 11), the delegations from the two nations explored numerous avenues of collaboration at the forum, which brought together top business leaders, policymakers, and industry stakeholders from both countries. While Israel’s largest-ever business delegation to India was led by Barkat, the Indian side was represented by the Minister of Industry and Supply, Piyush Goel.

In his opening remarks at the Summit, Israel’s Ambassador to India Reuven Azar lauded the decades-long ties between the two nations and said that the initiative “would pave the way for generating more business between the two nations.” Azar went on to mention that Israel is looking to sign a mutual investment agreement with India in March.

“We have to sign a mutual investment agreement in March. We’re going to have a delegation from our Treasury to try and finalize this agreement. In May, we’re going to have our Accountant General from Treasury to start working on a financial protocol to offer all the infrastructure tenders that we have to Indian companies,” he said. “India is a rising power and it is the right place to be,” he furthered.

Azar pointed out that despite the war, the Israeli economy continued to grow, crediting it to the “efforts and patriotism” of the people of the Jewish nation.

Israel has innovation, India has scale, and we complement each other: Barkat

In his keynote address at the event, Barkat said that Israel and India complement each other in numerous ways. “We excel in innovation, you excel in scale, the fact that we’re complementing each other makes a lot of great opportunities,” he said. “We shared a mutual vision of how Israel and India collaborate and make a better future for both countries. We’ve learned that we see opportunities, the global opportunities, eye to eye,” the Israeli economy minister furthered.

When asked by Firstpost, what are the priority sectors India and Israel will be looking at, Barkat explained that both nations are open to exploring numerous avenues. “Israel has 10,000 startups which is in ratio by far the most entrepreneurial country in the world. We excel in classic high-tech, agro-tech, food-tech, aqua-tech, and climate change. We are very powerful naturally in defence and homeland security and in advanced industries. These business clusters are very relevant for India and we have a number of companies in each one of these business clusters sitting down and collaborating with numerous hundreds of companies here in India,” he said.

“My expectation, and this is the discussion I had with Union Minister Piyush Goyal, is to have another delegation coming from India to Israel where we can have multiple meetings and at the tail end of that process know how to help those companies, both India and Israeli companies do more business. So the two governments are aligned to make very strong successful business-to-business relationships,” Barkat told Firstpost.

While delivering his address, the Israeli minister also recalled the horrors of the October 7 attack and hailed India’s “unwavering support during our most challenging times.” He mentioned that following the Hamas attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first to call his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu “to share his love for the Israeli people.” Barkat maintained that Israel is dealing with jihadists and the country has “no choice but to win.”

“We have no choice but to win. Prime Minister Golda Meir [was] once asked, what is Israel’s secret? What’s our secret weapon? And she answered very simply, we have nowhere else to go. That’s why we will always win. And if you understand that mentality, that we have no choice but to win,” he said.

“This is the DNA of the Israeli startups, the Israeli business people, and the military. We have to win. And when we come here, we have to complete the mission. We have to make that relationship, that collaboration, successful. It’s a part of our DNA. So back home, we’re going to have to complete our mission, bring back all the rest of the 76 hostages still kept in Gaza,” he added.

‘What you did with the pager, sends a message loud and clear’: Piyush Goyal

Before speaking on the economic collaboration between India and Israel, Union Minister Piyush Goyal pointed out that terrorism is the common enemy of both nations. “We have so much in common, Israel and India. You very rightly pointed out a few things. Most importantly, terrorism is our common enemy,” he said.

“We have, just like you, suffered for years and years. People coming across the border, people within the country, disturbing the peace and tranquillity of the country, disturbing our progress towards a better future for our people. And that is why I suspect that Mr Netanyahu and Prime Minister Modi are good friends. They both work with a shared purpose of putting an end to terrorism.”

Goyal said that by 2026, India will be freed from Naxalite activities within the country and lauded Israel’s no-tolerance stance on terrorism as well. “I think what you did with the pager… that message, I believe, has gone loud and clear across the world to anybody and everybody who thinks that they can attack sovereign nations, democratic nations, nations working for the progress of their people,” Goyal said, recalling the pager attacks on Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

During his address, the Union Minister laid out the “10Ds” that define India today and the potential India of tomorrow. They are: 1) Democracy 2) Demographic Development 3) Diversity 4) Digitalisation 5) Decarbonisation 6) Development 7) Dependability 8) Decisive Leadership 9) Determination 10) Demand. “Imagine 1.4 billion aspirational Indians looking for a better quality of life, looking for all the good things of life. Show me any other country in the world where you can sell 250 million washing machines, maybe in the next 10-15 years. Or 250 million quick refrigerators, television sets, or better smartphones,” he said.

Goyal took up the offer from the Israeli economy minister and said that he hoped to take the Indian delegation to Israel soon. “So, if I can conclude by saying, next year in Jerusalem,” he said.