India, Israel discuss regional and international issues

New Delhi: India and Israel on Monday discussed issues pertaining to regional and international of mutual interest through video conferencing.

The two countries held their 16th round of their Foreign Office Consultations, led by Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary (CPV & OIA) and Alon Ushpiz, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel.

“Both sides comprehensively reviewed the progress in ongoing cooperation, especially in the strategic fields of defence and security, counter-terrorism, cyber security, etc as also in other important areas of water and agriculture, science & technology, innovation and start-ups, energy, academic collaboration, furthering trade and mutual investments,” the ministry of external affairs said in a statement here on Monday.

The success stories of the jointly developed Centres of Excellence in Agriculture, pilot project on water conservation in Bundelkhand region, and close collaboration between the Ahmedabad-based International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) and Israel's Start-Up Nations Central (SNC) to provide incubation support for co-development of niche technologies came up for particular praise, it said.

Both sides further noted the helpful role of the India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) and the University Grants Commission (UGC)-Israel Science Foundation (ISF) Fund in facilitating joint academic and scientific research work.

There was a discussion on respective national approaches to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing collaboration in medical and testing tools research.

They agreed on the importance of continuing the upward momentum in the relationship through exchange of regular visits and consultations, and agreed to hold the next round of Foreign Office Consultations at a mutually convenient date.