New Delhi [India], February 11 : Israel's Minister of Economy Nir Barkat said that the governments of India and Israel are aligned to make "very strong successful business to business relationships." He stated that Israel is scaling rapidly to becoming a dominant global power.
While speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the India-Israel Business Forum event in New Delhi on Tuesday, Barkat lauded government to government relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and noted that Israelis love to travel to India and vice versa.
He said, "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, desert-tech and climate change. We are very powerful naturally in defence and homeland security and in advanced industries. So, what we find, these clusters, 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."
"My expectation, and this is the discussion I had with 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 Indian and Israeli companies do more business. So, the two governments are aligned to make very strong successful business to business relationships," he added.
Expressing Israel's willingness to boost growth in India, he said, "Yes, we have a number of delegations. We are actually also seeking how to help invest in infrastructure and in companies that are going to do Make in India. So, we want to help boost growth in India aligned with the strategy of Prime Minister Modi and Minister Piyush Goyal on Make in India. This is something that makes sense for Israeli companies. So, we're aligning the strategies of both countries to succeed more."
He said that geopolitics makes Israel very close to US and India. Barkat said that he was invited to India by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. He said that good people to people ties and government to government relations make good opportunites for two nations on the business side.
Nir Barkat said, "I was invited to India by Minister Piyush Goyal and I was here December. We discussed the huge global opportunity that India and Israel have together. Geopolitics makes Israel very close to the United States, but also very close to India. And I think that the relationship, the government to government relationship between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu and a good people-to-people relationship. Israelis really love to travel to India and thank God it's vice versa. So, good people-to-people, good government to government makes really good opportunities on the business side."
"Now I see India scaling rapidly to becoming a very dominant global player. Israel is tiny but we're very innovative and complementary skill sets of Israeli entrepreneurs and innovation and the ability to scale to large scope of business in India makes a classic match. I'm leading the biggest ever delegation from Israel to any country in the world here in India. This delegation is warmly accepted and we are discussing how to do better and more businesses together. And I'm very optimistic that indeed we will be able to find that solution and scale the economies and make the lives of Indians and Israelis much much better into the future," he added.
He also spoke about India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) which has a gateway in Israeli city of Bachan and a port in Haifa.
When asked about IMEC, he said, "The corridor between India and Europe going through Saudi and Jordan has a gateway in our city called the Bachan to the east and we actually have a port in Haifa to Europe. And so there's a number of opportunities, we are more than glad to collaborate and operate on this path. For us, it's not just a corridor. It's not just a peace corridor. It represents the concept that we're part of a bigger mission connecting between India and Europe."
The IMEC comprises of an Eastern Corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a Northern Corridor connecting the Gulf region to Europe. It will include a railway and ship-rail transit network and road transport routes.
He noted that Israel opened up to new regulations in Europe and there are many opportunities for importing or exporting goods to Israel. He also said that Israel would love to have more Indian employees to come and work in Israel.
Nir Barkat said, "At the tail end of this trip and the next trip, hopefully, that Minister Goyal will bring to Israel, we will best know how to create an agreement that will help expand the trade. And by the way, because Israel opened up to new regulations in Europe, I'm sure there's many, many opportunities for importing goods to Israel or exporting to Israel. And also, we'd love to have more Indian employees come and work in Israel. We have a shortage of employees, we'd love to see that happen."