14-18 January, 2018 – Netanyahu’s visit to India

Netanyahu conducted a successful state visit to India on January 14-18 – the first by an Israeli PM in 15 years.

Relations between the two countries are in good shape but still largely dependent on defence cooperation: Israel is India’s third largest arms supplier and India accounts for an estimated 40% of Israeli arms exports. Although defence cooperation will continue to be the backbone of Indo-Israeli ties, both countries attempted to give a positive spin by focusing on two areas were cooperation has flourished in recent years: technology transfer in the agricultural and water management fields. In addition, MoUs were signed to deepen bilateral engagement in the energy, technology and cybersecurity are areas were both countries are likely to become more engaged in the future.

Since coming into power, Modi has tried hard to de-hyphenate India’s relationship with Israel from that with Palestine. However, to appease Muslim countries in light of the US’s new policy towards Jerusalem, India has reaffirmed its support towards a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and Modi is expected to visit Palestine in February.

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