On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, in a telephonic conversation, discussed the two countries’ collaboration following the COVID-19 outbreak. This is the first conversation between the two since Netanyahu’s victory, which as announced on May 17.
Netanyahu’s victory comes after three unsuccessful attempts to get a “clear mandate”. Following the long struggle to form the majority last year, he joined hands with his rival Benny Gantz to form a coalition. This led to his fifth victory, making him the longest-serving Prime Minister of Israel.
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Netanyahu’s adviser said, “Both the leaders agreed to increase cooperation in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and also to expand cooperation in other areas.” The official statement said, “In particular, they assessed tremendous scope for expanding the already robust India-Israel collaboration in areas like health technology, agricultural innovation, defence-cooperation and information technology.” Further, the two leaders agreed to improve information exchange between experts from both countries. They agreed that the benefit of this collaboration should be “available for the wider benefit of humanity”.
Due to India’s large Muslim population, its relationship with Israel has always been a “balancing act”. For instance, India voted in favour of a United Nations (UN) resolution that opposed the United States’ decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Further, India also cancelled a $500 million deal for anti-tank missiles with Israel. Nevertheless, in his interview with India Today, Netanyahu refused to acknowledge these factors as detrimental to their friendship and said that Indian-Israeli diplomacy was progressing on several fronts.
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Earlier this year, Prime Minister Netanyahu visited Delhi, which lead to several deals in defence, agriculture, aviation, cyber-defence, security and science. The AFP reports that India has now evolved into Israel’s largest market for arms. This was a significant step forward in an already flourishing diplomatic friendship.
PM Modi also spoke to Cambodia’s PM Hun Sen on the same day. The two discussed the coronavirus pandemic and how to strengthen bilateral ties under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation framework.
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